i 


*"J 


Saint  Francis  of  Assisi 
Social  Reformer 


Saint  Francis  of  Assisi 
Social  Refokmer 


BY 

LEO  L.  DUBOIS,  S.M, 


A  DISSERTATION 

submitted  to  the  Faculty  of  Philosophy  of  the 

Catholic  University  of  America  in  partial 

fiilfilment  of  the  requirements  for 

the  Degi-ee  of  Doctor  of 

ejxBFLAlf^is.         Philosophy. 

^     OF  THE     ^      ■- 

UNIVERSITWASHINGTON,  D.C. 

OF  J 

K      ,  1904 


/ 


M 


<,^' 


h' 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction 7 

Part  I. — History. 

Chapter  I. — Antecedents 31 

Chapter  II. — Activity  in  Social  Reform 46 

Part  II. — The  Character  of  St.  Francis. 

Chapter  I. — Francis  the  Saint 69 

Chapter  II. — Characteristics  of  Mind 76 

Chapter  III. — St.  ^ancis  as  a  Leader 103 

Part  III. — The  Ideas  op  St.  Francis  on  Social 
Reform. 

Chapter  I. — Comprehensive  Reform 145 

Chapter  II. — Rehgious  Reform 158 

Chapter  III. — Conservative  Reform..  , 174 

Chapter  IV.— Individual  Reform 189 

Conclusion 205 

Appendix:  Bibliography 217 


V^  OF  THE 


INTRODUCTION. 


1.  The  Spirit  of  the  Time  of  St.  Francis. 

2.  The  Social  Problem. 

THE  bibliography  of  St.  Francis  reveals  to 
us  two  facts  equally  striking :  the  wonderful 
abundance  of  the  literature  on  the  saint  and  his 
work,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  absence  of  any 
study  professedly  treating  St.  Francis  as  a  social 
reformer.  In  the  following  pages  an  attempt 
is  made  to  present  him  in  this  light.  Hence, 
the  sociological  point  of  view  is  taken  through- 
out. An  effort  is  made  to  describe  the  steps - 
by  which  he  became  a  reformer,  the  work 
accomplished  by  him,  the  processes  of  his  mind 
and  the  traits  of  his  character  as  far  as  these 
affected  his  reform  work,  the  social  ideas  and 
principles  on  which  his  reform  work  was 
grounded. 

The  following  conclusions  seem  to  be  justi- 
fied by  the  facts  as  brought  to  our  knowledge 
by  a  study  of  the  documents  of  St.  Francis's 
time: 


8      Saint  Francis  of   Assisi 

Francis,  born  in  an  age  of  faith>  feeling,  and 
enthusiasm,  but  also  of  social  unrest,  became  a 
reformer  as  the  natural  outcome  of  his  love  for 
God  and  for  everything  which  God  has  created. 
A  strenuous  saint,  but  none  the  less  open  to  the 
tenderest  human  sentiments,  a  poet,  a  trouba- 
dour, a  chevaHer  in  character  and  aspirations, 
intensely  in  love  with  a  poor,  abandoned,  but 
chaste  maiden,  "La  donna  Poverta,"  Francis 
felt  that  he  had  received  from  God  a  mission 
to  convert  the  world  and  to  restore  the  peace 
and  happiness  which  ought  to  reign  among  His 
children.  He  went  to  the  people,  to  the  poor 
and  the  rich,  to  the  laymen  and  the  clergy, 
to  the  great  and  the  lowly,  captivating  all, 
not  only  by  his  charming  character,  but  also  by 
his  unstudied  and  unaffected,  yet  irresistible 
eloquence;  thus  he  became  the  soul  of  a  popu- 
lar movement,  which  spread  over  all  Europe 
and  made  itself  felt  in  all  parts  of  the  then 
known  world. 

There  was  no  philosophy,  no  method,  no  spirit 
of  organization  in  Francis,  nor  were  they  necessary 
for  the  creation  of  a  popular  movement.  When 
the  preservation  of  Francis's  work  required 
thought,  order,  direction,  he  himself  applied  to 
the  Church,  that,   "like  a  loving   mother,"  she 


Introduction  9 

might  supply  what  was  lacking  in  the  child,  and 
bring  his  work  to  completion  and  success. 

Though  the  reform  which  Francis  and  the 
Church  accomplished  conjointly  was  above  all 
religious,  based  on  the  Gospel  and  aimed  at  the 
conversion  and  salvation  of  man,  it  was  never- 
theless all-comprehensive,  including  the  natural 
as  well  as  the  supernatural,  the  material  as 
w^ell  as  the  spiritual  in  man.  It  aimed,  not 
at  the  destruction  of  existing  principles  and 
institutions,  but  at  the  repression  of  abuses  com- 
mitted by  individuals,  and  the  triumph  of  charity 
and  justice  among  men. 

1.  St.  Francis  was  born  in  the  year  1182, 
in  the  town  of  Assisi,  situated  on  the  slope  of  the 
mountains  of  Umbria,  on  the  road  from  Perugia 
to  Spoleto.  He  died  in  his  native  place,  October 
3,  1226.  The  greatest  part  of  his  life  was  spent 
in  Italy,  the  center  of  Christendom. 

His  age  was  above  all  an  age  of  faith.  It  was 
the  age  which  saw  two  of  the  greatest  manifesta- 
tions of  religious  faith,  the  Crusades  and  the 
Gothic  cathedrals.  It  was  the  age  of  saints, 
when  heads  of  nations,  kings  and  emperors, 
emulated  the  inhabitants  of  the  cloister  in 
the    pursuit    of     Christian     perfection.      Such 


10    Saint   Francis  of   Assisi 

were,  for  instance,  St.  Ferdinand,  king  of  Leon 
and  Castille;  St.  Elizabeth  of  Hungary  and 
her  holy  husband,  Louis  of  Thuringia;  Blanche 
of  Castille,  the  mother  of  St.  Louis.  The  saints, 
perhaps  even  more  than  the  warriors,  were  the 
popular  heroes  of  the  day.  The  discovery  of 
the  relics  of  a  martyr  was  an  event  as  remark- 
able as  a  change  of  dynasty.  Public  penances, 
long  and  painful  pilgrimages,  foundations  of 
cloisters,  sudden  conversions,  also  were  evidences 
of  that  active  faith  which  permeated  the  people 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  It  sounds  like  a 
paradox,  yet  it  is  true,  to  say  that  for  them  the 
supernatural  was  natural  and  the  natural  became 
supernatural.  They  lived  in  a  supernatural  atmos- 
phere: everything  which  happened  was  a  super- 
natural intervention  of  God,  and  they  contin- 
ually expected  Him  to  perform  miracles;  the 
"Judgments  of  God"  are  an  example  to  the 
point.  They  beheved  that  they  saw  Christ, 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  the  saints,  and  spoke 
with  them.  They  thought  that  numerous 
devils  were  always  ready  to  attack  men  if  they 
were  not  on  guard.  St.  Francis  was  not  the 
©nly  one  who  believed  he  found  a  legion  of 
devils  in  his  pillow.  The  numberless  demons 
carved  in  the  stalls,  or  painted  on  the  frescoes, 


Introduction  11 

or  inlaid  in  the  stained  windows  of  the  churches 
of  that  period,  manifest  well  the  mind  of  the  i 
time.     Every  fact  which  was  somewhat  out  of  1 
the  ordinary  was  immediately  traced  to  God  or 
the  devil  as  supposed  causes. 

The  supremacy  of  the  Church  in  temporal  as 
well  as  in  religious  matters,  at  the  time  when  St. 
Francis  began  his  life  as  a  reformer,  was  a  fact 
which  could  only  strengthen  this  faith  in  the 
supernatural.  Innocent  III,  then  on  the  pon- 
tifical throne,  had  reached  the  cUmax  of  his 
power,  and  he  practically  ruled  the  world.  He 
had  compelled  the  French  monarch  to  take 
back  the  wife  from  whom  he  had  sought 
a  divorce.  The  king  of  England  had  surrendered 
his  crown  to  him,  to  receive  it  again  as  the  humble 
vassal  of  the  pontiff.  Constantinople  itself  had 
become  a  Latin  kingdom,  and  a  Latin  church  had 
been  established  by  Innocent  within  its  walls. 

The  time,  however,  was  not  without  its  evils. 
This  young  people,  full  of  faith,  had  many  faults. 
The  records  of  the  Council  of  the  Lateran,  in 
1215,  reveal  the  presence  of  corruption  in  the 
ranks  of  the  clergy;  celibacy  was  not  faithfully 
practised;  simony  was  far  from  unknown,  and 
many  clerics  entirely  neglected  one  of  the  essen- 
tial  duties   of   their   office:   the   preaching   and 


12     Saint   Francis   of   Assisi 

teaching  of  the  word  of  God.  The  monasteries 
had  become  rich.  With  riches,  corruption  had 
too  often  entered  the  sacred  inclosure.  Among 
the  people  was  found  the  strangest  mixture  of 
faith  and  vice.  Not  only  were  there  great  saints 
and  great  criminals,  but  frequently  an  individual 
passed  suddenly  from  sin  to  self-denial  or  from 
virtue  to  vice.  For  the  knight  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  God  and  the  lady  of  his  heart,  devotion 
and  gallantry,  charity  and  revenge,  cloister  and 
battle-field,  were  all  objects  equally  worthy  of 
his  ambition. 

The  Teutonic  tribes  that  had  invaded  Europe 
several  centuries  before  were  still  in  the  youth  of 
civilization,  unstable  and  enthusiastic.  Enthu- 
siasm was  their  normal  state.  They  had  only 
one  desire:  to  consecrate  themselves  to  a  great 
cause.  It  may  be  the  Crusade,  the  strict  life 
of  a  Carthusian  monk,  the  adventurous  life  of  a 
knight  or  of  a  brigand;  they  would  enter  on  any 
walk  of  life  mth  the  same  ardor. 

Poetry,  imagination,  mysticism,  love  of  sym- 
boHsm,  were  also  characteristic  of  this  young 
people.  The  troubadours  and  minnesingers  cele- 
brated the  exploits  of  imaginary  or  real  heroes. 
They  sang  religion,  love,  and  war;  but  religion, 
love, and  war  were  personified:  in   Christ,  in  the 


Introduction  13 

Pope,  in  the  lady  whose  banner  the  courteous 
knight  carried  through  the  world,  or  in  the 
warrior  who  had  performed  wonderful  exploits 
among  the  Saracens.  The  people  of  St.  Francis's 
time  understood  abstract  ideas  only  by  their  con- 
crete realizations — they  saw  rather  than  under- 
stood. Religion  for  them  consisted  in  devotion  to 
saints  and  martyrs,  to  the  person  of  Christ  in  the 
crib  or  on  the  cross,  and  it  w^as  unaccompanied  by 
systematic  contemplation  of  great  spiritual  truths. 
They  saw  in  every  creature  a  symbol  of  something 
higher  and  nobler:  the  material  was  the  symbol 
of  the  spiritual;  the  natural  of  the  supernatural. 
They  saw  God  in  the  Pope,  and  for  them  the 
heretic  was  the  devil  incarnate.  Lessons  were 
better  imparted  to  their  minds  by  practical  images 
than  by  speeches  and  theories;  the  sight  of  the 
Flagellants  scourging  themselves  on  the  public 
squares  moved  them  more  than  the  sermon  of 
their  bishop. 

At  the  same  time,  the  age  of  St.  Francis  was 
one  of  transition.  Besides  the  vigor,  ardor,  sen- 
sibihty  ifckimagi nation  of  youth,  a  deep  and 
serious  ffeling  began  to  take  root.  The  feeling 
was  one  of  dissatisfaction  wdth  actual  conditions; 
a  vague  consciousness  arose  that  in  the  Christian 
world    something    was     wrong.       This    discon- 


14     Saint   Francis   of   Assisi 

tent  manifested  itself  in  revolts,  heresies,  social 
conflicts.  The  ideal  after  which  they  aspired  was 
not  well  defined  in  their  minds.  The  spirit  of 
discontent  revealed  itself  in  the  lamentations  and 
prophecies  of  Joachim  of  Fiora,  the  Calabrian 
visionary;  in  the  revelations  of  St.  Elizabeth  of 
Schonau,  and  of  St.  Hildegarde  of  Bingen.  Many 
attempts  at  religious  and  social  reform  charac- 
terized that  epoch.  Everyone  felt  the  need  of 
reform,  though  no  one  knew  what  should  be  the 
nature  of  it.  Men,  pushed  at  the  same  time  by 
their  restlessness  and  their  enthusiasm,  eagerly 
embraced  any  ideal  of  reform,  and  whenever  a 
saint,  a  hero,  or  a  deluded  leader  raised  the 
banner  of  reform,  he  found'  numbers  of 
adherents  who  adopted  his  cause,  thinking  that 
they  had  found  at  last  the  ideal  for  which  they 
had  been  longing. 

2.  In  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries, 
the  feudal  system  was  in  its  decline.  It  had 
served  a  great  purpose,  after  the  invasions  of  the 
barbarians,  in  introducing  order  ajrfiilg  Euro- 
pean countries,  and  in  protecting  them  from  fur- 
ther incursions.  But  the  system  was  far  from 
perfect,  and  the  evils  which  it  entailed  grew  as 
the  reasons  which  had  justified  the  introduction 


Introduction  15 

of  it  disappeared.  The  feudal  system  had 
necessarily  brought  about  the  division  of  society 
into  two  classes,  serfs  and  lords.  In  the  begin- 
ning the  serfs  had  gladly  offered  to  the  lords 
their  services  in  exchange  for  a  much  needed 
protection;  but  when  the  need  of  protection 
was  diminished,  the  lords  continued  to  exact 
from  the  serfs  equal  or  greater  services  and 
taxes.  Again,  the  system  was  based  on  the 
hierarchical  distribution  of  land;  land  meant 
sovereignty,  and  a  mere  lord  might  possess  more 
power  than  the  king  himself,  solely  because  he 
had  more  land  under  his  immediate  jurisdiction. 
The  serfs,  owning  no  land,  were  deprived  of  all 
social  and  political  power.  The  division  between 
the  two  classes  was  thus  rendered  still  greater, 
and  the  lower  class  was  continually  oppressed 
by  those  who  possessed  land  and  power. 

The  Church  at  this  time  was  busily  engaged  in 
asserting  against  the  emperors  the  supremacy  of 
her  power.  The  Popes,  it  is  true,  had  done  a 
great  deal  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  serfs 
and  to  obtain  a  recognition  of  their  rights 
against  the  lords,  and  they  used  the  ascendency 
which  they  had  gained  over  the  Christian  nations 
in  favor  not  only  of  morality,  but  also  of  justice 
and  liberty.     At  the  same  time,  the  bishops  had 


16    Saint   Francis   of   Assisi 

too  often  abandoned  themselves  to  a  worldly 
life  and  to  worldly  ambitions;  they  possessed 
land,  and  enjoyed  the  power  which  the  land  gave 
them;  they  had  their  serfs,  and  often  treated 
them  no  better  than  did  the  lords.  The  monas- 
teries in  the  past  had  been  refuges  for  those  who, 
tired  of  the  world  and  of  the  ways  of  the  world, 
sought  there  the  liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 
Now  they  had  become  very  rich,  and  a  worldly 
spirit  had  followed  the  acquisition  of  worldly 
goods.  Though  still  generous  toward  the  poor, 
they  had  ceased  to  be  their  friends. 

Hence  the  very  agencies  which,  in  the  past,  had 
softened  the  harshness  of  the  feudal  system, 
failed  to  apply  the  remedy-  at  the  very  time 
when  it  was  most  needed. 

The  conditions,  however,  w^ere  not  the  same 
throughout  all  Italy.  The  ItaHan  republics  of 
the  North  had  gone  a  long  way  toward  emanci- 
pation and  were  at  the  head  of  the  European 
movement  for  Uberty.  Pisa,  Genoa,  Venice, 
and  other  cities  of  Northern  Italy  had  become, 
particularly  since  the  beginning  of  the  Crusades, 
the  centers  toward  which  gravitated  all  the 
traffic  to  and  from  the  Orient.  These  circum- 
stances had  brought  them  riches,  prosperity,  and 
at  the  same  time  ambition,  love  of  liberty  and 


Introduction  17 

of  power.  Each  aimed  not  only  at  indepen- 
dence, but  at  supremacy  as  well.  The  bitter  quar- 
rels between  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines,  during  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  were  the  out- 
come of  this  condition:  the  former  represented 
the  radical  and  progressive  element,  which  stood 
for  Hberation  from  the  foreign  yoke,  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Italian  republics;  the  latter, 
more  conservative,  favored  the  emperor  and  his 
party,  and  thought  that  the  only  way  to  bring 
back  to  Italy  unity  and  peace  was  to  affihate 
all  those  young  states  to  the  German  empire. 

Outside  of  these  repubUcs  the  movement  was 
less  advanced.  It  was  particularly  slow  among 
country  people,  serfs  or  villains,  who  still  formed 
the  great  bulk  of  population.  They  lacked  the 
force  which  townsmen  found  in  union.  They 
lacked  the  resources  which  trade  and  commerce 
brought. 

However,  in  the  towns  outside  of  the  more 
advanced  Italian  republics,  the  movement  fell 
in  with  the  time  of  transition  from  feudal  to 
communal  regime.  A  general  craving  for  Hberty 
wa^  felt  by  the  townsmen.  The  communes  were 
struggling  against  the  lords.  Charters  were 
applied  for,  paid  for,  fought  for. 

The  conditions  in  these  towns  deserve  particular 


18    Saint,  Francis   of   Assisi 

attention,  for  it  was  in  a  town  that  Francis  was 
trained  and  in  towns  also  that  Franciscan  activity 
mostly  exercised  itself.  The  towns  of  Italy  had 
developed  rapidly  in  the  twelfth  century,  owing 
chiefly  to  the  revival  of  trade  at  the  time  of  the 
Crusades.  A  mixed  population  had  flocked  there, 
partly  from  the  class  of  the  villains,  who  found 
therearefuge  against  the  oppression  of  their  mas- 
ters ;  partly  from  the  classes  of  the  nobles ,  whose 
interests  had  brought  them  to  those  centers  of  trade 
;  and  commerce.  As  already  mentioned,  in  the  towns 
I  virtue  and  vice  were  found  side  by  side ;  there  were 
I  great  and  noble  actions,  as  well  as  crimes.  The 
towns  were  often  the  refuge  of  suspicious  charac- 
ters, of  tramps,  of  beggars,  who  lived  on  the  work 
of  others,  of  criminals,  who  found  there  a  com- 
paratively safe  hiding-place.  They  were  also 
the  seat  of  much  misery;  the  poor,  the  infirm, 
the  aged,  naturally  frequented  the  places  where 
riches  abounded.  This  misery  was  further 
increased  by  the  diseases  which  then  infested  the 
towns.  The  population  was  compactly  inclosed 
within  the  walls  in  a  space  often  comparatively 
small,  having  little  air  and  little  light,  as  the 
streets  were  narrow,  the  houses  low  and  dark. 
The  dirt  of  the  streets  was  hardly  ever  removed; 
there  were  no  sewers,   and  all   the  refuse  was 


Introduction  .  19 

simply  thrown  on  the  streets.  Nor  were  there^ 
any  sanitary  measures  to  prevent  or  stop  the 
progress  of  contagious  diseases.  Hence  arose 
those  epidemics  which  often  visited  the  towns  of 
Europe  and  destroyed  a  great  number  of  their 
inhabitants. 

Their  intellectual  and  religious  condition  was 
little  better.  The  instruction  of  the  townsmen 
was  greatly  neglected,  either  on  account  of  the 
lack  of  priests,  or  on  account  of  the  separation 
of  the  clergy  from  the  lower  classes.  The  clergy, 
as  they  became  rich  and  powerful,  had  come  to 
form  a  class  of  their  own,  which,  as  well  as 
the  class  of  the  lords,  considered  itself  superior, 
to  the  to^vnsmen. 

At  the  same  time,  the  towns  represented  the 
rising  element  of  the  age.  As  the  feudal  system, 
which  had  divided  the  European  world  into  two 
social  classes — fiords  and  serfs,  rich  and  poor, 
powerful  and  oppressed — was  disappearing,  a 
middle  class  was  rising,  the  class  of  merchants 
and  artisans,  the  burgesses,  who  now  began  to 
constitute  a  third  estate.  This  was  the  pro- 
gressive class,  the  class  which  largely  formed 
the  population  of  towns,  and  to  this  class 
the  Bernardone  family  and  Francis  himself 
belonged. 


20    Saint   Francis   of   Assisi 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  political  aspect 
of  the  social  condition,  the  problem  itself  was 
regarded  as  religious,  the  evil  was  considered  as 
religious,  and  the  remedies  offered  were  religious. 
Francis,  as  well  as  the  majority  of  reformers  at 
the  time,  was  a  religious  reformer. 
f  Religion  was  the  basis  of  everything  in  the 
I  thirteenth  century,  and  everything  was  seen 
Vthrough  a  religious  coloring.  The  people  thought 
and  spoke  of  heaven  and  hell  as  our  college  boys 
speak  of  baseball  and  football.  They  were 
imbued  with  a  religious  spirit  which  we  can 
hardly  realize.  They  could  never  have 
thought  of  a  political  or  economic  question 
which  was  not,  before  all,  a  religious  question. 
They  did  not  isolate,  as  we  do,  the  political  and 
economic  phases  of  a  social  system.  They  saw 
only  lords,  serfs,  clerics,  monks — all  more  or  less 
in  need  of  religious  virtues  which  would  have 
restored  to  all  peace  and  happiness. 

Besides,  the  evil,  whose  effects  all  might  see, 
was  the  abuse  of  the  power  given  by  riches.  To 
the  eyes  of  this  simple  population,  the  love  of 
riches  and  of  the  power  which  they  gave  was  the 
great  evil  which  made  reform  necessary.  This 
excessive  love  of  riches  was  a  sin,  and  they  saw  no 
manner  of  doing  away  with  it  but  by  practising 


Introduction  21 

virtue,  and  particularly   the   virtue   of   poverty 
which  Christ  had  taught  to  the  world. 

Hence  the  remedies  offered  for  the  social  fail- 
ings of  the  thirteenth  century  were  religious,  and 
all  the  plans  of  reform  were  inspired  by  religion. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  religion  had  already  con- 
tributed largely  to  temper  the  social  evils  of  the 
time.  We  hear  continually  of  the  foundation 
of  new  monasteries,  of  lands  and  houses 
bequeathed  to  religious  orders,  of  new  communi- 
ties which  consecrated  themselves  to  the  redemp- 
tion of  captives  or  to  the  care  of  the  sick,  of 
generous  almsgiving.  But  these  good  works  did 
not  eradicate  the  evil.  \  Monasteries  and  religious 
orders  were  already  too  rich,  and,  though  they 
gave  abundantly  to  the  poor,  they,  like  private 
benefactors,  did  not  use  sufficient  discrimina- 
tion in  their  distribution  of  alms/\  Men  of  that 
age  in  their  simple  faith  saw  in  almsgiving  rather 
the  meritorious  action  benefiting  the  donor  than 
the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  we  may  well  imagine 
that  such  indiscriminate  charity  must  have  often 
encouraged  idleness.  The  congregations  which 
had  a  social  utility  and  which  arose  at  the  end 
of  the  twelfth  century  and  beginning  of  the  thir- 
teenth, like  the  Confraternity  of  the  Charitable 
of  St.   Eloy,   of  the   Hospitallers  of  St.  James, 


22     Saint   Francis   of   Assisi 

the  Trinitarians  and  the  Order  of  Mercy  for  the 
redemption  of  captives,  the  Order  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  for  the  service  of  hospitals — all  these  cer- 
tainly did  a  great  deal  of  good,  but  they  were 
limited  in  their  aim,  in  their  influence,  and  on 
the  whole,  were  of  little  avail  to  eradicate  the 
social  evils  of  the  time. 

To  quote  Leo  XIII,  in  his  Encyclical  "Auspi- 
cato"  of  September  17,  1882  :\"  There  was 
a  penury  of  Christian  virtues  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  1  A  great  number  of  men,  enslaved  by 
temporal  things,  either  coveted  honors  and  riches 
with  frenzy,  or  lived  in  luxury  and  pleasure. 
All  the  power  belonged  to  a  few,  and  this  power 
had  almost  become  a  tool  of  oppression  against 
the  despised  and  unhappy  people.  \  Those  very 
persons  who  by  their  profession  should  have 
served  as  examples  to  the  others  had  not  avoided 
the  stains  of  general  vices.  \  The  extinction  of 
charity  in  various  places  had  had  as  consequences 
the  apparition  of  manifold  and  many  scourges: 
envy,  jealousy,  hatred;  minds  were  so  divided 
and  so  unfriendly  that  for  the  least  cause  neigh- 
boring cities  waged  war,  and  individuals  took 
arms  against  each  other."  It  was  in  one  of  these 
wars  between  cities  that  the  ardent  Francis  took 
part  when  little  over  twenty  years  old. 


Introductiori  23 

)  Long  before  the  day  of  Francis,  ^dgo^ous  efforts 
had  been -made  on  the  part  of  Catholic  reformers 
and  of  visionaries  to  reform  society.  In  the  first 
half  of  the  twelfth  century,  St.  Bernard  (1091- 
1153)  had  already  endeavored  by  his  warnings 
and  example  to  bring  about  the  reform  needed. 
His  work  hardly  survived  him,  while  the  evil 
increased  in  the  following  period,  and  Avith  the 
evil  the  protests  which  arose  under  various  forms. 
/  We  find  these  protests  in  the  visions  and 
prophecies  of  St.  Hildegarde  of  Bingen  (1098- 
1179),  and  of  Elizabeth  of  Schonau,  who  died  in 
1164,  both  nuns  of  great  repute.  The  former 
boldly  rebuked  the  clergy  for  their  worldly  con- 
duct, their  ambition,  their  thirst  for  riches,  and 
announced  to  them  a  divine  judgment  which 
would  deprive  them  of  the  riches  through  which 
they  had  been  corrupted.  The  prophecies  of 
St.  Hildegarde  were  much  read,  and  contributed 
largely  to  bring  about  the  reaction. 
1  Joachim  of  Fiora  (1145-1202),  the  Calabrian 
monk  who  had  been  converted  by  the  sight  of  the 
plague  while  on  a  voyage  to  the  East,  and  had 
embraced  poverty,  announced  the  approaching 
end  of  the  second  age  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
and  the  beginning  of  the  third  age,  the  age  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  the  *'EvangeHum  iEternum," 


t/ 


24     Saint   Francis   of    Assisi 

in  which  the  world,  sick  with  the  corruption 
caused  by  riches,  would  return  to  apostolical 
simplicity  and  poverty. 

Among  the  more  practical  efforts  of  Catholic 
reformers  may  be  mentioned  the  rise  of  the 
"Humiliati"  of  Milan,  who  wore  a  poor  habit 
and  earned  their  living  by  common  manual  labor, 
and  of  the  "Pauperes  Catholici,"  that  branch 
of  the  Waldenses  which,  under  Innocent  III, 
submitted  to  the  Church.  But  neither  society 
had  much  influence:  the  former  remained  a  local 
institution;  the  latter,  regarded  by  the  bishops 
with  suspicion,  never  received  thear  favor. 
/  A  number  of  the  reformers  came  from  the  ranks 
of  the  heretics,  and  directed  their  efforts  in 
opposition  to  the  Church.  They  not  only 
appealed  to  the  ideal  of  the  primitive  Church, 
to  the  simplicity  and  poverty  of  Christ  and  His 
Apostles,  but  attacked  the  prelates  of  the  Church 
for  their  worldliness,  attacked  the  doctrines  of 
the  Church  and  her  institutions,  and  pretended 
that  she  had  no  right  to  possess  earthly  goods, 
some  going  so  far  as  to  proclaim  these  earthly 
goods  intrinsically  bad. 

Arnauld  of  Brescia,  who  died  in  1155,  left  be- 
hind him  a  number  of  disciples  who,  until  the  Coun- 
cil of  Verona  (1184),  continued  to  protest  against 


Introduction  25 

the  possession  of  riches  by  the  Church  and  the 
exercise  of  temporal  power  by  Popes  and  bishops. 

About  1160,  Pierre  Waldo,  a  rich  burgess  of 
Lyons,  struck  by  the  words  of  Our  Lord  on 
poverty,  distributed  his  goods  to  the  poor,  and 
founded  the  society  of  the  "Pauperes  Lugduni." 
Led  into  revolt,  they  were  excommunicated 
by  Lucius  III  in  1184;  they  spread  nevertheless 
with  great  rapidity,  particularly  in  Northern 
Italy,  preaching  the  return  to  apostohcal  sim- 
plicity and  poverty. 

Other  sects  of  reformers  arose,  going  by  the 
name  of  Apostolicals,  like  those  of  Perigueux  in 
the  South  of  France.  As  their  name  indi- 
cates, they  claimed  to  follow  the  Apostles  in 
renouncing  all  earthly  goods  and  interests. 
But  their  influence  was  very  small  compared 
with  that  of  the  Albigenses,  who  also  spread 
chiefly  in  the  South  of  France.  The  Albigenses 
were  not,  it  is  true,  a  new  sect,  and  their  origin 
can  not  be  attributed  to  the  spirit  of  reaction 
against  the  corruption  of  the  Christian  world  by 
riches.  But,  if  this  spirit  of  reaction  did  not 
cause  their  rise,  it  certainly  caused  their  won- 
derful spread  at  the  end  of  the  twelfth  and  the 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  through 
Southern  France,  Northern  Italy,  and  Germany. 


26    Saint   Francis   of    Assisi 

They  condemned  matter  as  coming  from  the  evil 
princijile,  and,  with  more  logic  tlian  moderation, 
looked  upon  riches,  property,  marriage,  as  radi- 
cally bad,  because  belonging  to  the  material 
world.  The  members  of  this  sect,  particularly 
the  "Perfecti,"  presented  themselves  before  the 
people  as  rigid  observers  of  the  evangelical  law 
and  of  evangelical  poverty,  and  it  was  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Gospel  and  of  poverty,  far  more  than 
their  dualistic  doctrines,  which  brought  to  their 
ranks  so  many  recruits.  We  read  in  St.  Dom- 
inic's life  that  the  Papal  legate  and  the  twelve 
Cistercian  abbots  sent  by  the  Pope  to  convert 
the  Albigenses  gained  no  success  whatever.  The 
heretics  would  naturally  compare  their  own  lead- 
ers, professing  to  live  in  poverty  as  followers  of 
Christ  and  His  Apostles,  with  the  pomp  and 
luxury  which  accompanied  the  Catholic  prelates. 
The  popular  feeling  was  on  the  side  of  poverty, 
and  when  Dominic  and  Didacus,  bishop  of  Osma, 
began  their  missionary  labors  among  the  Albi- 
genses, they  first  put  themselves  on  a  level  with 
the  leaders  of  the  sect  by  renouncing  all  pomp 
and  state.  "^They  led  a  poor  life,  traveled  on 
foot,  and  avoided  all  demonstrations  of  honor; 
and,  later,  Dominic,  as  far  as  circumstances 
allowed  him,  adopted  for  the  Preacliing  Friary, 


Introduction  27 

as  a  more  efiFective  means  of  obtaining  success 
among  the  heretics,  the  absolute  poverty  which 
was  practised  so  well  by  the  Franciscans. 

What  may  surprise  us  is  the  success  of  these 
anti-Catholic  movements  in  that  time  of  active 
faith,  y  It  may  be  accounted  for  by  the 
restlessness — that  vague  but  constant  aspi- 
ration afler  a  better  state — which  characterized 
the  age.  V  Nor  were  these  movements  limited 
by  physical  barriers  or  by  nationaUty.  The 
European  world  as  a  society  was  then  beginning 
to  exist.  The  merchants,  travelers,  trouba- 
dours, propagated  the  news  and  the  popular 
movements  as  well. 

V  The  merchants  went  about  from  castle  to 
castle,  from  borough  to  borough,  and  were 
welcomed  by  all — lords  and  townsmen.  During 
the  long  winter  evenings  all  gathered  around 
them  and  heard  from  them  the  happenings  of 
distant  lands.  They  had  seen  much  themselves, 
but  they  had  also  learned  a  great  deal  from  the 
Crusaders,  from  the  pilgrims,  from  the  soldiers 
and  adventurers  whom  they  had  met  in  the  ports, 
in  the  inns,  on  the  roads. 

At  the  same  time  the  troubadours  of  Provence 
spread  everywhere  their  poetic  strains  on  the 
popular    questions    of    the    day.     Bernard    of 


28     SaintFrancis   of   Assisi 

Ventadour,  Cadenet,  Raimbaud  de  Vaqueiras, 
and  Pierre  Vidal,  went  to  Northern  and 
Central  Italy,  and  sojourned  there  during 
Francis's  boyhood.  They  also  spoke  of  the  cor- 
ruption caused  by  riches  and  the  desire  of  wealth, 
and  neither  cleric  nor  bishop  was  spared  at  their 
hands.  Hence,  a  heresy  born  in  France  was 
somi  transplanted  into  Italy  and  even  Germany, 
and  vice  versa. 

It  seems,  however,  that  those  popular  and 
religious  movements  affected  more  particularly 
the  South  of  France  and  the  Northern  part  of 
Italy.  It  was  there  that  the  Waldenses  and 
Albigenses  obtained  their  greatest  success,  the 
towns  being  generally  their  headquarters  and 
center  of  operation.  It  was  from  Northern 
Italy,  and  from  a  town,  that  the  great  Catholic -i 
reformer  of  the  thirteenth  century  arose. 

The  common  remedy  proposed  by  all  reformers 
mi  that  epoch,  in  and  outside  of  the  Church,  was 
Im  return  to  apostolic  poverty  and  simplicity. 
)  These  features  of  reform  agitation  had  attracted 
great  numbers.  It  was  by  practising  and 
preaching  apostoHc  poverty  and  simplicity  that 

j    Francis  and  his  followers  achieved  their  great 

^    reform. 


PART  I 
HISTORY 


CHAPTER  I.— ANTECEDENTS. 

1.  Early  Life. 

2.  To  Social  Reform. 

1.  rpiHE  father  of  St.  Francis,  Pietro  Beraardone, 
-*•  was  a  rich  merchant  who  traveled  through 
Italy  and  France,  in  the  interests  of  his  business. ' 
He  has  been  represented  by  some  as  a  hard, 
avaricious  man;  by  others,  as  liberal  and  generous, 
but  irascible  and  obstinate.  The  latter  view 
seems  to  be  the  better  supported.    * 

«  While  Francis  was  working  at  his  father's 
trade,  we  know  that  he  arrayed  himself  in  the 
most  costly  clothes,  and  that  it  was  customary 
for  him  frequently  to  in\Tte  his  numerous 
friends  to  sumptuous  banquets.  At  the  same 
time  he  gave  abundantly  to  his  friends  and  to 
the  poor.  2     His  father  never  thought  of  inter- 

»  3  Soc.,  2.  References  are  given  to  the  edition  of 
the  Bollandists  for  the  legend  of  the  Three  Compan- 
,  ions,  as  also  for  the  first  life  of  Tommaso  di  Celano 
and  the  legend  of  St.  Bona  venture.  For  the  second 
life  of  Tommaso  di  Celano,  the  Amoni  edition  has 
been  used. 

2 1  Cel.,  2,  3;  H  Cel.,  I,  13.     3  Soc.,  2,  3. 


32  History 

fering  with  these  habits.  In  fact  he  allowed 
Francis  to  spend  money  as  freely  as  he  wished. 
But  when  Francis  gave  up  his  worldly  Ufe,  and 
resolved  to  follow  Christ,  a  complete  change 
appeared  in  the  conduct  of  his  father.  He  not 
only  refused  to  cooperate  in  his  son's  good  work 
as  he  had  formerly  encouraged  him  in  his  life 
of  dissipation,  but  even  disowned  him  and 
took  from  him  the  very  clothes  he  wore.^ 

In  Francis's  mother,  Pica,  a  Proven  gal,  accord- 
ing to  tradition,  we  find  a  very  different  charac- 
ter. She  was  simple,  affable,  virtuous,  yet  at 
the  same  time  energetic.  She  did  not  hesitate, 
in  spite  of  Bernardone's  orders,  to  break  the 
chains  which  held  Francis  prisoner  in  a  dark 
corner  of  the  house.  ^ 

We  know  but  little  more  about  the  parents  of 
Francis.  Yet,  from  what  we  know,  we  can  not 
help  remarking  certain  general  traits  common  to 
parents  and  son.  We  find  in  the  latter  a  strength 
of  will  much  akin  to  the  obstinacy  of  Bernardone. 
We  also  find  in  him  the  simplicity  and  affability 
of  his  mother,  Picaj  His  early  education  was 
perhaps  a  little  neglected,  since  the  extravagant 
manners  and  princely  ways  of  his  youth  were 

1 1  Cel.,  14,  15;  II  Cel.,I,  7.  3  Soc,  18, 19.  Bon.,  19. 
'  I  Cel.,  13.     3  Soc,  18. 


Antecedents        '  33 

those  of  a  spoiled  child.  ^  Though  he  received 
little  instruction,  calling  himself  an  illiterate 
man,  yet  he  learned  some  Latin  at  the  ecclesias- 
tical school  of  Santo  Giorgio,  and  also  spoke  some 
French.  2 

A  quick  intelHgence  and  early  contact  with 
business  made  up,  to  a  certain  extent,  for  this 
lack  of  schooling.  While  a  young  man  he  was 
associated  with  his  father  in  business,  pro^^ng 
to  be  a  "clever  merchant. "^  In  this  capacity 
we  may  presume  that  he  had  frequent  intercourse 
Tvdth  men  of  different  countries,  and  that  he, 
Hke  his  father,  traveled  somewhat  in  Northern 
Italy  and  in  Provence.  Unfortunately,  his  early 
biographers  confined  themselves  to  the  mere 
statement  that  he  was  a  clever  merchant. 

Some  details  concerning  his  worldly  life  and 
his  early  ambitions  have  been  preserv^ed.  At 
the  head  of  the  young  men  of  Assisi,  he  gave  his 
time  to  poetry  and  gayety,  to  songs  of  love  and 
pleasure,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  little  town 
wondered  at  the  sight  of  his  extravagant  way  of 
dressing,  of  the  money  which  he  spent  or  gave 
away  lavishly,  of  the  banquets  to  which  he  in- 

a  Cel.,  2;  II  Cel.,  I,  1.     3  Soc,  1. 
2  3  Soc,  10,  24,  33.     Bon.,  219. 
3 1  Cel.,  2. 


34  History 

vited  his  numerous  friends;  and  his  own  parents 
were  heard  to  say,  "  Our  son  lives  Hke  the  son 
of  a  prince."* 

When  war  w^as  declared  between  Assisi  and 
Perugia  Francis  took  up  the  cause  of  liberty, 
fighting  with  the  people  against  oppression — 
against  the  lords.  As  a  soldier  he  was  brave, 
and  devoted  to  his  companions  during  their 
captivity. 2  A  little  later,  he  heard  of  the  knight, 
GauthierdeBrienne,  traversing  Italy  at  the  head 
of  an  army.  This  news  awakened  in  him  the 
most  ambitious  hopes,  and  he  decided  to  follow 
that  knight. 3  "I  know,"  he  said  to  his  friends 
on  leaving  Assisi,  **  I  know  that  I  shall  be  a  great 
prince."*  But,  arrived  at  Spoleto,  he  had  a 
dream.  God  appeared  to  him,  and  said,  "Who 
can  do  thee  more  good,  the  master  or  the  servant  .^  " 

"The  master,"  answered  Francis. — "Why 
then  hast  thou  abandoned  the  master  for  the 
servant,  the  prince  for  the  subject?  Return  to 
Assisi,  and  there  I  vnll  show  thee  what  thou 
oughtest  to  do."  Francis,  in  his  simple  faith, 
obeyed  what  he  believed  to  be  the  divine  call, 

1  I  Cel.,  2,  3.     3  Soc,  2,  3. 
2 II  Cel,  I,  1.     3  Soc,  4. 
3 1  Cel.,  4.     3  Soc,  5.     Bon.,  9. 
*  II  Cel.,  I,  2.     3  Soc,  5. 


Antecedents  35 

and  returned  to  Assisi.  For  the  last  time,  he 
consented  to  preside  at  a  banquet.  But,  as  the 
joyous  guests  paraded  through  the  streets, 
dancing  and  singing,  they  saw  that  Francis  had 
remained  behind,  motionless  and  plunged  in 
deep  meditation.  They  asked  him  laughingly 
if  he  thought  of  taking  a  wife.  "You  speak  the 
truth,"  he  answered,  "for  I  have  resolved  to 
espouse  a  wife  nobler,  richer,  and  more  beautiful 
than  all  those  that  you  know.''^  A  new  ideal  had 
flashed  before  his  eyes,  an  ideal  to  which  he  would 
consecrate  his  Kfe.  It  was  no  longer  poetry, 
war,  knighthood — it  was  a  higher  and  more 
worthy  ideal,  the  ideal  of  Christian  poverty,  of 
which  he  would  henceforth  be  the  champion. 

2.  From  the  world  to  God,  from  God  to  pov- 
erty for  the  love  of  God,  from  poverty  to  social 
reform  for  the  love  of  the  poor  of  God,  such  were 
the  steps  in  the  mental  process  by  which  Francis 
became  a  reformer.  He  surrendered  worldly/ 
ambitions  to  embrace  the  cause  of  God,  even' 
before  his  new  ideal  was  well  defined. 

^Vhether  Francis  had  ever  heard  from  the  lips 
of  his  father  returning  from  long  voyages,  or 
from  his  Provencal  mother,  the  story  of  the  efforts 

'  I  Cel.,  7;  II  Cel..  I.  3.     3  Soc..  7. 


or  The    ^  ^> 


36  History 

of  the  orthodox  Humiliati  and  of  the  heretical 
Waldenses  and  Albigenses  to  bring  the  Christian 
world  back  to  apostolic  poverty  and  simplicity, 
is  not  certain.^  But  it  is  evident  from  the  first 
biographies  of  Francis  that  in  his  early  years 
he  had  a  great  love  for  the  poor.  Though  fond 
of  pleasure,  he  was  moved  to  tears  by  the 
sight  of  misery,  and  he  loved  to  relieve  it.  Once 
when  busily  engaged  in  his  father's  shop,  he 
repulsed  a  beggar  who  asked  him  alms  for  the 
love  of  God.  Immediately  a  feeling  of  remorse 
flashed  over  him.  He  ran  after  the  beggar,  put 
into  his  hand  several  pieces  of  money,  and  then 
took  the  resolution  never  to  refuse  alms  to  any- 
one who  would  apply  to  him  in  the  .name  of  God.* 
A  little  later,  when  on  his  way  to  join  Gauthier 
de  Brienne,  richly  attired  as  was  his  custom,  he 
met  a  poor  knight  miserably  clad.  He  was 
moved  to  such  sympathy  that  he  immediately 
divested  himself  of  his  costly  garments,  and 
forced  them  on  the  poor  knight.' 

Francis's  conversion  marks  an  epoch  in  his  love 
of    poverty.     From    that    time   on,   he   became 

1  H.  Thode :  "Franz  von  Assisi,"  p.  32.     R.  Mariano : 
"Francesco  d'Assisi,"  p.  126  S. 
«I  Cel.,  17.     3  Soc,  3.    Bon.,  6. 
» I  Cel.,  4.     3  Soc,  6.     Bon.,  8. 


Antecedents  37 

more  and  more  convinced  that  it  was  truly  the 
state  to  which  God  called  him;  and,  imitating 
the  young  knight  who,  for  his  first  tournament, 
carefully  concealed  his  identity  until  he  received 
the  laurels  of  victory,  Francis  went  to  Rome 
under  the  pretence  of  making  a  pilgrimage  to 
the  tomb  of  the  Apostles,  but  in  reality  to  try 
the  state  which  he  intended  to  embrace. 
Arrived  there,  he  changed  his  rich  garments  for 
those  of  a  poor  man  w^hom  he  met  on  the  steps 
of  St.  Peter's,  and  representing  himself  as  a  beg- 
gar, he  asked  alms  from  those  who  passed.^ 

This  was  the  apprenticeship  through  which  he 
entered  his  new  profession.  When  he  returned 
to  Assisi,  his  determination  was  fixed.  Poverty 
would  be  his  bride,  and  to  her  he  would  conse- 
crate his  life. 

Some  time  after  his  return,  while  he  was  praying 
before  the  Crucifix  in  the  little  church  of  Santo 
Damiano,  he  heard  the  voice  of  Our  Lord: "  Fran- 
cis, do  you  not  see  that  my  house  is  falling  to 
ruins?  Go  and  repair  my  house."*  Francis 
understood  these  words  as  applied  to  the  little 
chapel,  which  was  indeed  falling  to  ruins.  He 
began  immediately  to  beg  and  to  carry  stones, 

» II  CeL,  I,  4.     3  Soc.,  10. 

» II  CeL,  I,  6.     3  Soc,  13.     Bon.,  15. 


38  ^  History 

and  to  call  on  the  passers-by  to  come  and  help 
him  repair  the  house  of  God.  But,  after  a  time, 
as  he  told  his  brethren,  it  was  revealed  to  him 
that  the  words  of  Christ  applied,  not  so  much  to 
the  material  chapel  which  he  had  repaired,  as 
to  the  Church  which  needed  reform.  ^ 

Shortly  after  hearing  the  voice  in  Santo 
Damiano,  Francis  was  persecuted  by  his  father, 
whom  this  transformation  had  angered.  He 
stripped  himself  of  his  clothes  in  the  court  of  the 
bishop  of  Assisi,  and  said,  "I  will  return  to  my 
father  even  the  clothes  which  I  have  received 
from  him.  Until  now  I  have  called  Pietro 
Bernardone  my  father;  from  henceforth  I  will 
say  in  all  truth:  Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven, 
you  are  my  treasure  and  my  hope."^  He  called 
himself  the  "herald  of  God,"  and  began  his  work 
of  charity  among  the  unfortunate  in  the  leper 
house  on  the  Gubbio  road.' 

On  the  24th  of  February,  1209,  he  assisted 
at  Mass  in  the  church  of  the  Portiuncula,  which 
also  he  had  repaired.*  At  the  Gospel,  the  priest 
read  the  words  of  Christ  toHjs  Apostles,  when 

^  Bon.,  16. 

'  I  Gel.,  14;  H  Cel.,  I,  7.     3  Soc,  20.    Bon.,  19,  20. 
3 1  Cel.,  16,  17.     Bon.,  21,  22. 

*  Cf .  Montg.  Carmichael  in  "Dublin  Rev.,"  Ap., 
1903.     "  Irish  Eccl.  Rec,"  March,  1904. 


Antecedents  39 

He  sent  them  forth  to  preach  the  kingdom  of 
God :  '*  Do  not  possess  gold,  nor  silver,  nor  money 
in  your  purses,  nor  two  coats,  nor  shoes,  nor  a 
staff."  ^  This  was  a  new  revelation  to  him.  He 
now  saw  his  ideal  of  poverty  more  clearly  and 
fully,  and  he  reahzed  that  it  w^as  the  ideal 
of  the  Apostles  when  they  set  out  to  win  the 
world  to  Christ.  This  impression  strengthened 
him  in  his  determination:  he  left  the  church, 
threw  away  with  horror  the  little  money  which 
he  had  received  in  alms,  discarded  his  staff  and 
his  shoes,  put  on  the  rough  habit  of  the  Umbrian 
peasant,  with  a  cord  around  his  waist,  and  began 
preaching  penance,  evangelical  perfection,  and 
above  all,  peace.  y/^Msiy  God  give  you  peace!" 
was  his  motto,  his  salutation,  the  beginning  and 
the  end  of  all  his  exhortations  and  discourses.  ^ 

He  soon  found  disciples.  "His  language, 
simple,  but  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  pene- 
trated to  the  heart  and  to  the  marrow,  so  that 
those  that  heard  him  were  struck  w^th  admira- 
tion."" Bernardo  of  Quintavalle,  the  rich  bur- 
gess of  Assisi,  and  Pietro  the  canon,  w^ere  the 
first  to  follow  him.   Though  the  ideal  of  Francis's 

»  Mat.  X,  9,  10. 

2 1  Cel.,  22,  23.     3  Soc,  25,  26.     Bon.,  26,  27. 

3  3  Soc,  25. 


40  History 

life  was  already  well  defined,  yet  he  wished  to 
have  a  confirmation  of  it  for  the  disciples  who 
wished  to  join  him:  *'We  shall  go  to  church," 
he  said,  "  and  seek  in  the  Gospel  what  Our  Lord 
has  recommended  to  His  disciples." ^  According 
to  the  custom  of  the  time,  Francis  opened  the 
book  of  the  Gospel  three  times  at  random,  to 
know  what  kind  of  life  they  should  adopt.  The 
first  time  he  read  this  passage  of  St.  Matthew: 
"  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go,  sell  what  thou  hast, 
and  give  to  the  poor;  and  thou  shalt  have  treas- 
ure in  Heaven;  and  come,  follow  me."^  The 
second  time  he  found  these  words  of  St.  Luke: 
"Take  nothing  for  your  journey;  neither  staff, 
nor  scrip,  nor  bread,  nor  money;  neither  have 
two  coats. "3  The  third  time  he  found  the  text 
of  St.  Matthew:  "If  any  man  will  come  after 
me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross, 
and  follow  me."*  Francis  was  overwhelmed  with 
joy:  God  had  given  him  another  proof  that  he 
and  his  disciples  must  live  up  to  the  apostolic 
ideal  of  poverty  in  order  to  reform  the  world. 
"Brethren,"  he  said,  **this  will  be  our  life  and 

» I  Cei.,  24.     3  Soc,  29.     Bon.,  28. 
2  Mat.  xix,  21. 
8  Luc.  ix,  3. 
^  Mat.  xvi,  24. 


Antecedents  41 

our  rule;  it  will  be  also  the  life  and  the  rule  of 
all  those  who  will  join  our  company." ^ 
^Brother  Egidio  and  a  few  others  soon  joined 
the  httle  company,  and  Francis  sent  them  to 
begin  the  work  of  reform:  "Consider,  my  dear 
brethren,"  he  said  to  them,  "the  vocation  to 
which  God  has  called  you,  not  only  for  your 
own  salvation,  but  for  that  of  many,  that  we 
may  go  through  the  world,  exhorting  men  by 
our  example  more  than  by  our  words  to  do 
penance  for  their  sins,  and  to  remember  the  com- 
mandments of  God.  Do  not  fear,  though 
you  be  weak  and  ignorant,  but  announce 
penance  simply,  confiding  in  God  who  has  con- 
quered the  world,  for  His  Spirit  mil  speak  in  you 
and  through  your  mouth,  and  will  exhort  all 
men  to  be  converted  and  to  keep  His  command- 
ments. You  will  find  some  men  faithful,  meek, 
and  kind,  who  will  receive  you  with  joy  and 
will  hear  your  words.  You  will  find  others,  and 
these  far  more  numerous,  who  are  unfaithful 
and  proud;  they  will  receive  you  with  blas- 
phemies, they  will  resist  you  and  what  you  say 
to  them.  Take,  therefore,  the  resolution  to  sup- 
port everything  with  patience  and  humility. 
Then  after  some  time  many  men  will  come  to 
»  3  Soc,  29. 


42  History 

you,  some  of  them  noble  and  learned,  and  will 
go  with  you  to  preach  to  the  kings,  the  princes, 
and  the  people,  and  many  will  return  to  God, 
who  will  multiply  and  increase  His  family  in  the 
entire  world. "» 

The  preaching  of  the  new  apostles,  if  indeed 
it  may  be  called  preaching,  was  very  simple. 
We  are  told  that  "The  man  of  God  did  not 
properly  preach  to  the  people,  but  when  passing 
through  towns  and  castles,  simply  exhorted  them 
to  love  God  and  fear  Him,  and  to  do  penance 
for  their  sins.  And  Brother  Egidio  would  tell 
his  hearers  to  believe  Francis  because  he  gave 
them  excellent  counsel."^ 
^  The  simplicity,  poverty,  childish  joy,  and  enthu- 
siasm of  Francis  and  his  followers  were  interpreted 
differently  by  those  who  saw  and  heard  them: 
some  thought  they  were  drunk  or  insane,  others 
admired  them,  were  touched  and  joined  them,   i 

There  w^as  no  ceremony  of  initiation,  no  novi- 
tiate for  the  recruits;  they  gave  their  goods  to 
the  poor,  and  having  put  on  the  peasant's  tunic 
and  the  cord,  they  went  wherever  Francis  sent 
them,  to  preach  penance*  and  peace.' 

1  3  Soc.,  36. 

2  3  Soc,  33. 

8  3  Soc,  27-33. 


Antecedents  43 

In  spite  of  many  failures  and  rebufiFs,  Francis 
had  the  most  buoyant  hopes  for  the  future:  the 
Httle  company  would  accomplish  its  work  for 
the  reform  of  the  world:  t^e  cheerful,"  he  said 
to  his  followers;  "be  cheerful,  and  rejoice  in  the 
Lord.  Let  not  your  little  number  be  to  you  a 
cause  of  sadness:  God  has  revealed  to  me  that 
He  will  deign  to  propagate  throughout  the  world 
this  family  of  which  He  is  the  Father.  I  would 
wish  to  be  silent  on  what  I  have  seen,  but  charity 
requires  me  to  tell  you.  I  have  seen  a  great 
multitude  of  men  coming  to  us,  wishing  to  wear 
the  habit  of  our  company,  and  to  follow  the  rule 
of  our  holy  religion.  The  roads  were  filled 
with  them.  The  French  are  coming,  the  Span- 
iards hasten  to  join  us,  the  Germans  and 
English  are  running,  as  well  as  an  immense 
multitude  from  other  countries.  And  even  now 
the  sounds  of  the  footsteps  of  those  who  are 
coming  and  going  where  obedience  calls  them 
are  ringing  in  my  ears."* 

From  the  beginning  of  his  work  of  reform, 
Francis  had  sought  advice  from  the  bishop  of 
Assisi.  The  latter  one  day  remarked  that  such 
a  perfect  renouncement  of  all  earthly  goods  was 
very  hard:  "My  lord,"  answered  Francis,  "if  we 

'  I  Cel.,  27.     3  Soc,  36. 


44  History 

possessed  anything,  we  would  need  arms  to  pro- 
tect ourselves.  For,  from  possession  arise  diffi- 
culties and  disputes  which  put  obstacles  of  all 
kinds  to  the  love  of  God  and  our  neighbor.  This 
is  why  we  wish  to  possess  nothing  in  this  world." 
This  answer  pleased  the  bishop  very  much.^ 

But,  as  the  little  company  increased  in  numbers 
and  won  success,  Francis,  as  a  most  faithful 
son  of  the  Church,  wished  to  have  the  society 
approved  by  the  Holy  Father.  The  aim  held  ' 
up  w^as  the  reform  of  the  Christian  world. 
Though  approbation  was  not  necessary  at  the 
time, 2  Francis  thought  that  his  great  work 
should  receive  the  blessing  of  the  head  of  the 
Christian  world.  Having  written  a  short  rule, 
which  has  not  reached  us,  but  which  his  historians 
declare  to  have  been  composed  mainly  of  words 
of  the  Gospel,  he  departed  for  Rome  with  his  . 
company,  which  at  the  time  was  composed  of 
twelve  members.'  He  reached  Rome  in  1209,* 
Innocent  III  being  Pope.  When  he  saw  Francis 
and  his  companions,  and  learned  their  plans,  ^^ 
he  was  much  less  enthusiastic  than  they.     The 

1  3  See,  35.    Bern.  Bess.,  **De  laudibus,"  Cap.  II. 
2 IV  Counc.  Lat.  1215. 
»  3  Soc,  46.     Bon.,  34,  35. 

*or  1210,  as  Sabatier  holds:  "Vie  de  St.  Fran9ois 
d'Assise,"  29th  ed.,  p.  100, 


Antecedents  45 

Pope  took  time  to  consider  the  question  before 
giving  his  approbation.*  Francis  was  by  no 
means  discouraged  by  this  first  sign  of  opposition. 
He  secured  the  influence  of  the  bishop  of  Assisi, 
then  at  Rome,  and  of  the  Cardinal  of  Santo 
Paolo,  and  returned  to  the  Pope  with  a  beautiful 
allegory  of  Lady  Poverty,  abandoned  by 
the  world  and  cherished  by  him  and  his  follow- 
ers.' Pope  Innocent  was  won.  He  gave  his  oral 
approbation:  "Go  in  the  name  of  the  Lord," 
he  said  to  them,  "and  preach  penance  to  all  as 
the  Lord  will  inspire  you,  and  when  the  Almighty 
will  have  increased  your  number,  come  to  me 
again  and  I  will  do  more  for  you  and  confide  to 
you  greater  charges. "^ 

It  was  only  later,  in  1223,  that  the  company  j 
was  definitely  approved.     But,  from  this  time, 
1209,  the  reform  movement  assumed  a  character 
of  its  own  and  soon  took  an  expansion  which  was 
little  short  of  wonderful. 

» I  Cel,  33.     3  Soc,  49.     Bon.,  35. 

2 II  Cel.,  I,  11.     3  Soc,  47-50.     Bon.,  36,  37. 

'  I  Cel.,  33;   II  Cel.,  I,  11.    3  Soc.,  49,  52. 


CHAPTER  II.— ACTIVITY  IN  SOCIAL 
REFORM. 


1.  Means  of  Reform. 

2.  Results. 

WHETHER  Francis,  in  gathering  around 
him  a  few  disciples  and  in  applying  to 
Rome  for  the  approbation  of  the  little  company, 
intended  to  found  a  monastic  order  or  merely  a 
lay  association,  is  a  matter  of  controversy.  ^ 
Perhaps  the  truth  lies  between  the  two  extremes; 
and,  if  the  fact  is  by  no  means  clear  in  the 
legends  of  the  saint  and  in  his  own  words  and 
actions,  the  reason  may  be  that  it  was  not  yet 
clear  in  his  own  mind.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
either  as  a  consequence  of  a  reasoned  plan,  or 
by  the  force  of  circumstances,  Francis  founded 
both  a  monastic  order  and  a  lay  association;  or, 
to  speak  more  correctly,  he  founded  two  monastic 
orders, — which,  later,  came  to  be  called  respect- 

^  Vogt,  MiJller,  Sabatier,  Lempp  hold  for  the  lay 
association.  Hertzog,  Mariano,  and  Catholic  authors 
generally,  hold  for  the  monastic  order. 


Social   Reform   Activity     47 

ively  the  *'  Friars  Minor"  and  the  "  Poor  Clares," 
— and  the  "Third  Order,*'  now  known  by  that 
name  and  which  was  properly  the  lay  associa- 
tion. These  became  for  him  the  means  by 
which  he  carried  out  his  reform. 

The  first  order  included  all  those  who,  follow- 
ing in  Francis's  footsteps,  were  to  be  active 
workers  in  the  field  of  reform.  Each  order  had 
its  own  ideal,  from  which  it  received  its  char- 
acter, and  through  which  it  was  distinguished 
from  others.  Poverty  was  to  be  not  only  the 
favorite  virtue  of  Francis  and  his  first  disciples, 
but  the  profession  and  practice  of  all  those  who 
joined  the  order.  Francis  made  it  the  test  of 
vocations  to  the  community  of  the  "Poor  Peni- 
tents,'* or  "Minores,**  as  they  were  called  later. 
No  one  could  be  received  into  the  order  unless 
he  had  sold  his  goods  and  given  the  product  to 
the  poor:  "Go  your  way,  Brother  Fly,'*  he  said 
to  an  applicant  who  had  distributed  his  fortune 
to  the  members  of  his  family;  "you  have  not  yet 
given  up  your  home  and  your  family;  you  have 
given  your  goods  to  your  relatives  and  robbed 
the  poor;  you  are  not  worthy  to  become  the 
companion  of  the  poor  of  Christ.  You  have 
begun  by  the  flesh;  it  is  a  dangerous  foundation 
for  a  spiritual  edifice.'*^ 
90. 


1 


48  History 

Not  only  was  every  individual  member  bound 
to  practise  absolute  poverty,  but  the  communi- 
ties themselves,  and  the  order  as  a  whole,  were 
not  allowed  to  possess  anything  whatever.  ^  It 
was  the  first  religious  order  which,  as  a  community, 
renounced  the  holding  of  property.  In  all  other 
cases,  though  the  individual  religious  did  not 
possess  property,  the  community  could  and  did 
possess  land,  houses,  and  money.  The 
"Minores,"  according  to  Francis's  mind,  were 
to  own  nothing  beyond  what  satisfied  the  needs 
of  the  moment. 

Francis's  aim  in  demanding  from  his  disciples 
absolute  poverty  was  to  give  a  lesson  to  the  world. 
He  beheved  in  the  force  of  example,  and  told  his 
brethren  that  it  was  their  vocation  to  go  through 
the  world  exhorting  men,  rather  by  example 
than  by  words,  to  do  penance  for  their  sins  and 
to  remember  the  precepts  of  the  Lord.'  He  felt 
that  the  world  could  not  behold  this  community 

1  "Opuscula  S.  P.  Franc.  Ass.:"  Reg.  la,  Cap.  viii; 
Reg.  2a,  Cap.  vi.  These  rules  are  called  "prima" 
and  "secunda"  in  the  editions  of  St.  Francis's  works, 
though  in  fact  one  or  several  rules  were  written  before, 
but  are  now  lost.  Cf.  K.  Miiller:  "Die  Anfange  des 
Minoritenordens,"  p.  4  ff. 

Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  13. 

» I  Cel.,  29.     3  Soc,  36. 


Social    Reform   Activity     49 

in  which  the  poverty  of  the  members  was  equaled 
only  by  their  charity  and  happiness,  without 
realizing  that  other  joys  besides  those  supplied 
by  fortune  and  power  await  those  who  seek  them. 
Francis  was  not  content  with  mere  poverty; 
^labor  and  poverty  were  abhorred  by  the  world ^^ 
and  Francis  wished  that  his  brethren,  as  well  as 
the  poor,  should  work,  and  thus  give  to  the  world 
an  example  of  patience  and  happiness  in  poverty 
and  labor.  1 

*  Preaching  was  naturally  to  be  a  means  of 
propaganda;  it  was  not  the  stiff,  official,  or 
scholastic  preaching  which  was  customary  at 
that  time,  but  rather  popular  appeals.  *  The 
desire  of  Francis  was  that  his  companions, 
preaching  to  the  people  and  for  the  people,  in 
the  streets  or  fields  as  well  as  in  churches, 
wherever  men  could  be  gathered  together,  ^ 
should  preach  from  the  heart,  should  preach 
peace,  charity.  Christian  happiness,  employing 
simple,  ordinary  language  understood  by  a\\J^ 
He  gave  his  disciples  the  best  examples  of  this 
popular  preaching,  when  he  took  for  his  text  the 

1  "Opuscula":  Reg.  la,  Cap.  vii;  Reg.  2a,  Cap.  v. 
Testamentum. 

2  Lecoy  de  la  Marche:  "La  Chaire  Fran9aise  au 
moyen  age." 

3  Reg.  la,  Cap.  xvii;  Reg.  2a,  Cap.  ix. 


50  H  i  s  t  o  r  3^ 

popular  Italian  proverb,  "Tanto  e  il  bene  ch'io 
aspetto,  ch'ogni  pena  m'e  diletto;"^  when  he 
spoke  to  the  young  lords  after  the  tournaments  in 
the  castle  yard,  or  to  the  peasants  after  having 
shared  in  their  work  in  the  fields,  or  to  the 
people  of  Grecio  assembled  around  the  "  presepio" 
in  which  lay  the  "  Bambino. "^ 
X  Besides  example  and  preaching,  Francis 
demanded  from  the  members  of  the  first  order 
the  care  of  the  lepers.  In  the  beginning,  the 
brethren  lodged  in  the  leper  houses  when  on  their 
travels  through  the  country. »  One  of  the  chief 
duties  of  the  followers  of  Francis  was  to  visit, 
assist  and  console  their  "Christian  brethren," 
as  he  called  those  unfortunates.* 

The  poor,  the  destitute,  were  to  be  the  objects 
of  the  tenderest  care  on  the  part  of  the  brethren. 
They  were  to  be  welcomed  at  all  times  in  the 
houses  of  the  "  Minores,"  they  were  to  find  in  their 
company  a  new  family,  to  share  the  alms  which  the 
brothers  received  or  the  food  which  they  earned 
by  the  labor  of  their  hands.  -|  Francis  desired  to 

^  Actus  B.  Franc,  et  Soc,  Cap.  9. 
2 1  Cel.,  84-86.     Bon.,  149,  150. 
3  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  58;  Cf.  also  P.  Sabatier's  notes  in 
Spec.  Perf.,  pp.  xxx,  25,  79. 
*  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  58. 


Social   Reform   Activity     51 

form  a  community  of  poor  men, — poor  in  reality 
and  in  sympathy.^  m 

This,  in  brief,  was  the  character  of  the  first 
order  which  Francis  instituted  for  the  reform 
of  the  Christian  world.  But  not  all  could  join 
the  first  order,  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
all  satisfied  with  merely  hearing  the  zealous 
sermons  and  admiring  the  example  of  the 
brothers. 

A  ^sejgQnd  order,  of  which  Clara  was  the  first 
member,  soon  became  a  necessity  and  received 
a  multitude  of  "Povere  donne,"  who  also  prac- 
tised perfect  poverty.  * 

But  married  people  could  not  join  either  of 
these  orders,  and  hence  Francis  was  brought 
naturally,  by  the  demands  of  his  converts,  to  the 
idea  of  the  Third  Order.   (This  was  ever/ more/ 


than  the  first  an  instrument  of  reform.  ^ 

The  aim  of  the  Third  Order  was,  of  course, 
eminently  religious; "but  its  aim  was  more  attain- 

1 1  Gel.,  76.    Bon.,  94.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  17,  20. 

2 1  Cel.,  18.  3  Soc,  60.  Bon.,  46.  Bern.  Bess., 
Cap.  7.  Reg.  Stse.  Clarae,  Cap.  8.  Cf.  Lemmens: 
"Die  Anfange  des  Clarissenordens "  in  "Romische 
Quartalschrift,"  T.  XVI,  p.  93  ss.  Lempp:  "Anfange 
des  Clarissenordens"  in  "Zeitschrift  fUr  Kirchen- 
geschichte,"  T.  XIII,  p.  202  ss. 

»  3  See.,  60.     Bon.,  46. 


52  History 

able  by  the  multitude  than  that  of  the  first  and  the 
second  orders,  nor  did  it  require  so  active  a 
part  in  the  reform  of  the  world.  The  rules  of  the 
first  and  second  orders  enjoined  the  observation 
of  the  Counsels;  those  of  the  Third  Order 
enjoined  only  the  observation  of  the  Command- 
ments. The  "Minores*'  were  to  go  through  the 
world  to  preach  to  all  penance  and  peace;  the 
'*  Fratres  de  Pcenitentia,"  as  the  members  of  the 
Third  Order  were  called,  were  required  to  reform 
only  themselves,  and  by  their  example,  those 
with  whom  they  were  brought  into  immediate 
relation.  But  besides  this  religious  object,  there 
was  a  strong  social  feature  in  the  constitution  of 
the  Third  Order. 

The  brethren  were  forbidden  to  carry  offensive 
weapons,  and  to  take  solemn  oaths;  they  were 
to  contribute  a  monthly  due  to  a  common 
fund,  and  finally,  to  make  their  wills  within  three 
months  after  their  admission  into  the  order. » 

These  four  articles,  considered  in  their  relation 
with  the  needs  and  evils  of  the  time,  contained 
in  germ  a  whole  social  reform.  The  serfs  were 
obhged,  in  order  to  secure  a  protection  much 
needed  at  that  epoch,  to  take  an  oath  of  alle- 

^  "Reg.  ant.  fratrum  et  sororum  de  Poen.*'  Saba- 
tier's  edition.  Cap.  6,  7  and  10. 


Social   Reform   Activity     53 

glance  to  the  lord';  but  the  lord  too  often  abused 
the  right  thus  obtained  over  his  subjects,  and 
forced  them  to  take  part  in  petty  quarrels  which 
he  had  with  his  neighbors  or  his  vassals :  the  first 
and  second  articles  mentioned  above  obviated  this 
evil.  Another  right  which  was  often  used  and 
abused  by  the  lord  was  that  of  seizing  the  goods  of 
the  serfs  who  died  intestate:  hence  the  clause  of  the 
rule  of  the  Third  Order  requiring  the  mem- 
bers to  write  their  wills.  The  other  article 
aimed  perhaps  still  further;  this  monthly  fee 
was  to  bind  together  all  the  members  of  the  Third 
Order,  and  to  give  them  the  strength  of  union 
in  assisting  each  other  in  case  of  sickness,  death, 
or  poverty;  but  besides,  whether  intended  or 
not,  it  was  to  supply  the  serfs  with  a  fund  from 
which  they  could  obtain  means  to  redeem  them- 
selves from  heavy  services,  or  even  to  buy  their 
freedom. 

2.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  documents  con- 
cerning the  reform  work  of  Francis  are  scarce  and 
incomplete.  His  first  biographers,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  Middle  Ages,  see  in  him  only  the  saint; 
his  reform  work  is  touched  upon  only  inciden- 
tally. The  best  sources  are  the  archives  of  the 
places   where   Francis   preached,   or   where   the 


54  History 

Franciscan  influence  was  felt  during  the  thir- 
teenth century.  Some  work  has  been  done  on 
these  documents.  However,  more  remains  to 
be  done,  and  no  doubt  it  will  be,  as  the 
movement  in  Franciscan  literature  seems  to  be 
only  in  its  beginning. 

The  first  effect  of  the  new  movement  was  the 
infusion  of  a  new  spirit  into  the  Christian  world, 
and  to  this  result  both  the  first  order  and  the 
Third  Order  contributed. 

Within  a  few  years  from  the  foundation  of  the 
first  order,  at  the  Chapter  of  1219,  the  "Minores" 
numbered  about  5,000,  and  included  all  classes  of 
men,  "rich  and  poor,  nobles  and  villains,  pru- 
dent and  simple,  clerics  and  laymen."^  This 
number  alone  shows  how  efficacious  were  the 
preaching  and  example  of  the  first  Franciscans. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  much  greater 
number,  unable  to  leave  the  world,  had  been  at 
that  time  converted  by  the  brothers,  and  had 
returned  to  a  life  of  penance,  charity,  and 
peace. 

The  preamble  and  termination  of  all  the  exhor- 
tations of  Francis  and  his  companions  was,"  May 

a  Cel,  31,  36.  Bon.,  52.  Thorn,  de  Eccleston: 
*'De  adventu  Fr.  Min.  in  Ang."  in"Monuraenta  Fran- 
ciscana."     London,  1858,  pp.  25,  26. 


Social   Reform   Activity     55 

the  Lord  give  you  His  peace," — and  this  peace 
was  often  the  result  of  their  efforts. 

After  a  mission  preached  by  Francis  in  Assisi 
the  citizens  of  the  town  drew  conjointly  the  char- 
ter which  remains  as  a  monument  to  the  glory  of 
the  Reformer-Saint.  It  is  said  in  this  charter 
that  between  the  "Majores"  and  the  "Minores'* 
of  Assisi  (i.  e.,  lords  and  serfs)  the  following  con- 
vention had  been  agreed  upon:  "Neither  party 
will  sign  any  treaty  or  pact  with  Pope,  bishop, 
king,  or  any  other,  without  the  consent  of  the 
other  party;  they  vnW  Hve  together  in  perfect 
harmony  for  the  good  of  all,"  etc.^  A  few  days 
before  Francis's  death,  no  longer  able  to  preach, 
he  converted,  by  a  verse  of  poetry  added  to  the 
"Cantico  delle  Creature"  and  sung  by  his 
brethren,  the  bishop  and  the  mayor  of  Assisi,  who 
embraced  each  other  pubUcly  and  promised  to 
live  henceforward  in  peace  and  charity. « 

Al  letter  in  the  archives  of  the  city  of  Bologna 
has  the  following  on  the  occasion  of  the  passing 
of  Francis  through  the  town:    "At  the  close  of  j 
his  sermon,  he  spoke  only  of  the  extinction  of 
hatreds    and    of    the    necessity    of    concluding 

1  Cristofani:  "Delle  Storie  d'Assisi,"  Lib.  II,  p.  130, 
quoted  by  Le  Monnier,  Vol.  I,  p.  167. 

2  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  101. 


56  History- 

treaties  of  peace  and  union.  He  converted  noble- 
men whose  boundless  ferocity  and  unrestrained 
cruelty  had  made  blood  flow  throughout  the 
country,  and  among  whom  many  became  recon- 
ciled."! 

What  Francis  did  in  his  native  town  and  in 
Bologna,  he  did  also  wherever  he  passed.  Ascoli,^ 
Alviano,^  Greccio,^  Perugia,^  Arrezzo,«  and  many 
other  towns^  saw  their  inhabitants  reconciled 
and  brought  back  to  the  practise  of  justice  and 
charity  under  the  powerful  influence  of  our 
reformer. 

The  personal  influence  of  Francis  was  multi- 
phed  many  times  by  the  action  of  his  brothers, 
whom  he  sent  to  the  different  provinces  and 
countries  to  propagate  the  work  of  reform. 

1  Sigonius:  "De  Episc.Bonon.,"  Lib.  II,  ad  an.  1220, 
quoted  by  Le  Monnier,  Vol.  I,  p.  417. 

2 1  CeL,  62. 

3 1  Cel.,  59.     Bon.,  175. 

*II  Cel.,  II,  5. 

« II  Cel,  II,  6. 

« II  Cel.,  Ill,  51.  Bon.,  83.  Cf.  Giotto's  fresco  in 
Assisi  on  the  driving  out  of  the  devils  from  Arrezzo. 
Thode:  ''Franz  v.  Ass.,"  pp.  133-135. 

'  Like  Toscanella.  Gubbio,  Citta  de  Castello, 
Bevagna,  Gaeta,  in  which  the  historians  of  St.  Francis 
tell  us  that  he  not  only  performed  miracles,  but 
obtained  numberless  conversions.  Cf.  I  Cel.,  62-70. 
Bon.,  170-187. 


Social   Reform   Activity     57 

It  is  true,  not  all  enjoyed  the  prestige  of 
Francis,  but  all  (tame  from  Francis,  they  had  ^ 
embraced  his  hfe,  they  brought  his  letters,  ^  his 
message  of  peace  and  happiness,  and  they  were 
received  as  Francis  himself.  At  the  words  of 
these  apostles  of  love,  men  threw  aside  dissen- 
sions, hatreds,  wars,  and  swore  to  practise  the 
charity  which  Francis  and  his  poor  brothers 
practised  so  well,  that  they  might  also  partici- 
pate in  that  joy  which  was  characteristic  of  the 
Franciscan  missionaries,  and  in  the  spiritual 
reward  which  they  promised. 

The  work  which  the  "Minores"  began,  by 
their  preaching  and  example,  the  Third  Order 
continued  and  perfected.  Men  were  converted 
to  a  better  and  more  Christian  hfe  by  the  friars, 
and  these  conversions  were  not  only  sincere,  but 
as  a  rule,  lasting.  /Some  joined  either  the  first  or  the 
second  order,  but  the  majority,  obhged  to  remain 
in  the  world,  entered  the  Third  Order,  the  main 
object  of  which  was  precisely,  to  foster  the  Chris- 
tian spirit  of  justice  to  all,  of  charity  of  the  rich 
for  the  poor,  and  of  patienc<e j^Wld^CQutent'^ 
in  the  poor  themselves.  V 

*  "B.  Franc.  As.  Opera,'*  Epist.  la  and  2a,  "ad 
universos  Christi  fideles;"  13a," ad  universes  Clericos;" 
15a,  "ad  populoriim  rectores."  In  the  Quaracchi 
edition  Ep.  la  and  4a. 


58  History 

To  what  extent  the  Third  Order  spread,  and 
with  it  this  Christian  spirit,  which  was  the 
foundation  of  Francis's  social  reform,  we  learn 
from  a  contemporary  letter:  "The  Brothers 
Minor  and  the  Preaching  Friars  have  created 
two  confraternities,  to  which  all,  men  and  women, 
rush,  so  that  there  can  hardly  be  found  a 'person 
who  does  not  belong  to  one  or  the  other." »  The^ 
numerous  bulls  of  the  Popes,  in  favor  of  the 
members  of  the  Third  Order,  point  also  to  a  won- 
derful development  of  this  institution. ^ 

If  Tommaso  di  Celano  could  say,  in  the  first 
years  of  Francis's  reform  work,  that  the  appear- 
ance of  the  country  had  been  changed  under  • 
Francis's  influence,  ^  we  may  well  imagine  how, 
after  the  expansion  of  the  movement  through 
the  activity  of  the  first  and  third  orders,  a  new 
spirit  pervaded  almost  the  whole  Christian 
world,  from  England  to  Sicily,  from  Portugal  to 
Hungary,  and  even  as  far  as  Palestine,  Egypt, 
and  Morocco. 
V  The  infusion  of  this  practical  Christian  spirit, 
by  which  charity  and  peace  were  restored  to  the 

1  Pierre  des  Vignes.    Quoted  by  Le  Mon.,  Vol.  II, 
p.  10. 

2  BuUarium  Franciscanum»  pp.  8,  19,  30,  39,  51,  05, 
etc.     ... 

3 1  Cel.,  37. 


Social   Reform   Activity     59 

world,  was  certainly  the  mairL_result  of  the 
reform  movement  originated  by  Francis;  yet 
there  is  another  result  which,  though  more  limited 
in  extent,  and  beyond  Francis's  intention,  had  a 
great  social  and  pohtical  importance.  It  is  the 
share  which  the  Franciscan  movement  had  in 
the  disappearance  of  the  feudal  system,  particu- 
larly in  Italy. 

We  have  seen  the  social  and  political  nature 
of  the  four  articles  mentioned  when  speaking  of 
the  rule  of  the  Third  Order:  these  articles,  if  car- 
ried out,  meant  to  a  great  extent  the  emancipation 
of  the  serfs.  That  the  fact  eventually  took  place 
is  known  chiefly  from  the  bulls  of  Honorius  III 
and  Gregory  IX.  The  struggle  for  liberty  began 
during  Francis's  very  Hfe,  and  continued  after 
him. 

On  the  16th  of  December,  1221,  Honorius 
III  interfered  in  favor  of  the  Tertiaries  of 
Rimini.  1  The  jpeople  of  Rimini  had  joined 
the  _ Third  .Order  in  great  numbers,  thus 
avoiding  .tlie_oath  and  the  military  service  to 
which  the  lords  endeavored  to  subject  them; 
the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  in  virtue  of  the  Papal 
authority,  ordered  the  lords  not  to  molest  men 
who  belonged  to  a  confraternity  the  members 

1  Bull.  Franc,  p.  8. 


60  History 

of  which  professed  to  lead  a  Christian  Hfe,  a  life 
of  penance. 

It  was  Uke  an  inspiration  to  the  rest  of  Italy, 
and  a  few  years  afterward,  we  learn  from  a  contem- 
poraneous document — the  letter  of  Pierre  des 
Vignes  already  quoted — that  almost  all  Italy  be- 
longed to  either  the  Franciscan  or  the  Dominican 
Third  Order.  The  lords  tried  by  all  means  to 
retain  their  authority  and  their  rights  over  their 
subjects,  but  to  no  avail. 

On  June  25,  1227,  Gregory  IX,  by  a  new  bull, 
solemnly  approved  the  Third  Order,  and  declared 
again  that  its  members  were  not  liable  to  feudal 
oaths  and  military  service.* 

The  lords  made  a  last  effort  against  the  move- 
ment towards  liberty;  they  appealed  to  previous 
oaths,  put  a  tax  on  those  who  refused  military 
service,  refused  the  money  offered  in  exchange 
for  services,  and  tried  to  make  the  whole  corpo- 
ration Hable  for  the  debts  and  delinquencies  of 
individual  members.  Gregory  IX  again  took 
the  side  of  the  people  and  insured  them  complete 
triumph.  2  There  were  still,  after  that,  local 
troubles,  which  he  and  his  second  successor. 
Innocent  IV,  settled  in  every  s  instance  in  favor 

1  Bull.  Franc,  p.  30. 

2  Bull.  Franc,  p.  39. 


Social   Reform   Activity     61 

of  the  Tertiaries;  but  the  victory  had  been 
already  won;  the  feudal  system  had  been  sapped 
in  its  very  foundation,  and  the  Itahan  de- 
mocracy had  received  a  strength  which  was 
soon  to  render  it  victorious  in  its  conflict  with 
Frederick  II  of  Germany.! 

While  the  Franciscan  movement  brought  about 
a  social  revolution  by  the  restoration  of  the 
Christian  spirit  and  the  emancipation  of  the 
serfs,  it  had  also  secondary  effects  which  may  not 
be  overlooked^  Francis's  love  for  the  poor,  the---^ 
sick,  the  lepers,  has  already  been  touched  upon. 
This  love  was  practical  and  efficient.  Not  only 
he,  but  all  his  followers,  who  Avere  soon  counted 
by  thousands,  and  among  whom  were  many 
who  were  noble  and  rich,  gave  up  all  they  had  to 
the  poor.  Not  only  did  they  distribute  their  own 
fortunes  among  them,  but  the  product  of  their  labor 
and  the  alms  which  they  received  also  went 
largely  to  relieve  the  misery  of  the  unfortunate.^ 
There  is  no  doubt  that,  frequently  perhaps,  this 
reUef  was  granted  to  unworthy,  designing  poor; 
yet  it  is  evident  that  this  displacement  of  wealth 
was  on  the  whole  beneficial.    The  Third  Order  had 

1  St.  Francis  has  been  called  by  Sabatier  "The 
Father  of  Italian  Democracy,"  in  '*  Conferenze  Dan- 
tesche,"  Vol.  II, — and  by  Cristofani  *'The  Patriarch 
of  Religious  Democracy,"  in  "Storie  d'Assisi,"!,  p.  70. 


62  History 

also  a  common  fund  for  the  relief  of  poor  mem- 
bers, and  besides  the  spirit  of  solidarity  which 
this  institution  fostered,  and  the  good  relations 
wliich  it  established  between  the  rich  and  the 
poor,  it  practically  relieved  a  great  deal  of 
misery,  and  at  the  same  time  paved  the  way 
for  those  beneficent  "Monte  di  Pieta"  which 
were  organized  two  centuries  later  by  the  Fran- 
ciscans, and  particularly  by  the  blessed  Ber- 
nardino di  Feltre.^ 

Finally,  the  care  of  the  sick  and  the  lepers, 
most  dear  to  Francis,  was  also  an  obligation  of 
the    Friars    Minor,  and   was  recommended    to 

T embers  of  the  Third  Order. ^ 
Leprosy  was  one  of  the  scourges  of  Europe  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  It  spread  particularly  at  the 
time  of  the  Crusades,  and  was  at  its  height  when 
Francis  appeared.  To  the  physical  and  moral 
sufferings  of  these  unfortunates,  who  were  con- 
demned to  a  slow  and  painful  death,  were  added 
the  shame  of  a  condition  which  was  looked  upon 
as  typical  of  sin,  and  the  complete  separation 
from  the  rest  of  mankind.  After  a  ceremony 
which  resembled  very  much  the  rites  for  the  dead, 

1  Ludovic  de  Besse:  *'Le  Bienheureux  Bernardin  de 
Feltre."     Tours,  1902. 

2 1  Cel.,  39,  103.  Testam.  B.  Franc.  Spec.  Perf., 
Cap.  44,  58. 


Social   Reform   Activity     63 

the  leper  was  led  to  the  lazar-house  or  to  the 
solitary  little  hut  which  was  to  be  his  dwelling- 
place  for  the  rest  of  his  hfe.  Only  at  Easter- 
time  was  he  allowed  to  leave  this  place  and  come 
to  church;  but  even  then  he  had  to  wear  a  special 
habit,  he  was  obliged  to  warn  passers-by  of  his 
presence  by  means  of  a  rattle  whose  sound  was 
abhorred  by  all ;  only  wide  roads  were  allowed  to 
him,  and  he  could  touch  nothing  which  was  used 
by  others.. 

As  a  rule,  however,  the  lepers  were  not  entirely 
abandoned.  Their  unfortunate  lot  excited  the 
charity  of  the  faithful,  who  rarely  passed  in  front 
of  their  houses  without  dropping  an  offering 
into  the  wooden  cup  suspended  before  their  doors, 
and  the  bishops  were  constituted  their  oJ05cial  pro- 
tectors. Besides,  a  few  orders  arose  in  the  twelfth 
century  for  the  care  of  the  sick,  like  the  *'Poor 
of  Christ,"  founded  by  Robert  d'Arbrissel  in  the 
diocese  of  Rennes,  the  "Brothers  Hospitallers" 
of  St.  Anthony  and  those  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
founded  in  the  South  of  France.^  But  these 
influences  were  only  local  and  of  hmited  scope. 
The  work  of  Francis  and  his  followers,  on  the 

1  Dr.  Max  Heimbucher:  "Die  Orden  und  Congrega- 
tionen  der  Katholischen  Kirche."  Paderbom,  1896. 
Ernest  Lavisse:  "Histoire  de  France,"  T.  in,p.357  ff. 


64  History 

contrary,  was,  we  may  say,  universal.  They 
went  through  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  and 
everywhere  their  first  care,  after  the  preaching 
of  the  word  of  God,  was  given  to  the  lepers. 
They  lodged  in  the  leper  houses  and  there  com- 
forted and  assisted  these  unfortunate  people, 
washed  their  wounds  and  dispensed  to  them  all  the 
tender  cares  which  their  quick  sympathy  for  all 
sufferers  would  suggest.  The  towns,  of  which 
they  were  the  missionaries  and  reformers,  were 
also  centers  around  which  the  lepers  were  most 
numerous:  hence  the  Franciscans  became  the, 
apostles  of  the  lepers  as  well  as  of  the  towns. » 

The  members  of  the  Third  Order  also  were 
friends  and  protectors  of  the  lepers.  St.  Louis, 
king  of  France,  was  accustomed  to  wash  and 
dress  their  wounds  with  his  own  hands,  and 
when  dying,  he  desired  that  a  part  of  his  fortune 
should  be  consecrated  to  the  building  of  two 
thousand  leper  houses.  St.  Elizabeth  of  Hungary 
and  other  members  of  the  Third  Order  also  gave 
immense  sums  for  the  relief  of  the  lepers. 2 

The   result  of  this    care    was    evidently    an 

1  *'Monumenta  Franc,"  I,  p.  xxi  ff. 

2  It  is  a  constant  tradition  that  both  St.  Louis  and 
St.  Elizabeth  belonged  to  the  Third  Order.  Cf. 
''Monum,  Franc,"  I,  p.  543;  "Anal. Franc,"  I,  p.  267. 


Social   Reform   Activity     65 

improvement  in  the  sanitary  conditions  of  the 
leper  houses  and  in  the  treatment  of  the  disease, 
which  was  finally  extirpated.  The  wave  of 
sympathy  for  these  unfortunates  brought  about 
greater  charity  between  the  different  social 
classes,  and  contributed  largely  towards  that 
reform  of  the  Christian  world  of  which  Francis 
had  dreamt,  and  which  to  some  extent  he  real- 
ized. 


PART  II 
THE  CHARACTER  OF  ST.  FRANCIS 


or  THE 

'JNIVERSiTY 

OF 


CHAPTER  I.— FRANCIS  THE  SAINT. 

TOMIVIASO  DI  CELANO,  one  of  the  first 
historians  of  Francis,  gives  a  detailed  por- 
trait of  him  which  serves  well  as  an  introduction 
to  the  study  of  his  character. 

"  Oh,  how  beautiful,  how  splendid,  and  how 
glorious  was  this  countenance  which  reflected 
the  innocence  of  his  life,  the  purity  of  his  heart, 
and  on  which  could  be  continually  read  his  burn- 
ing love  for  God  and  for  his  neighbor.  His  was 
truly  an  angelic  appearance.  Sweet  in  his  man- 
ners, he  was  of  a  tranquil  nature;  affable  in  his 
discourse,  his  exhortations  were  appropriate;  he 
was  faithful  in  his  charge,  foreseeing  in  counsel, 
and  effective  in  his  transactions;  gracious  in  all, 
he  was  ever  serene  in  mind  and  tender  in  feeling; 
he  was  constant  in  contemplation,  prompt  in 
pardoning,  and  slow  to  anger;  gifted  with  a  won- 
derful memory,  he  was  sharp  in  discussion, 
circumspect  in  choice,  and  yet  simple  in  all. 
Strict  towards  himself,  he  displayed  the  utmost 
consideration  for  others.  Simple  and  eloquent 
in  his  speech,  he  continually  spent  himself  in  the 


70  Character  of    St.    Francis 

service  of  others,  and  far  from  being  haughty  in 
his  demeanor,  he  showed  himself  cheerful  and 
kind  to  all. 

"In  stature  he  was  a  little  above  the  middle 
size;  his  head  was  round  and  not  too  large;  his 
face  was  oval  and  his  features  drawn ;  his  forehead 
was  small  and  even;  his  eyes  were  of  medium 
size,  black  and  truthful;  black  hair,  eyebrows 
straight,  a  nose  fine,  even  and  straight,  ears 
erect  and  small,  and  flat  temples,  constituted  the 
upper  part  of  his  countenance;  his  voice  was 
vehement,  sweet,  clear,  and  sonorous;  his  teeth 
were  closely  set,  even,  and  white,  his  lips  small 
and  thin;  his  slender  neck  was  set  on  square 
shoulders,  and  his  short  arms  ended  in  small 
hands  with  long  fingers,  the  nails  of  which  were 
projecting;  his  legs  were  slender  and  his  feet 
small;  his  skin  was  thin  and  he  was  very  lean; 
he  was  coarse  in  his  attire,  he  slept  Httle,  and 
gave  abundantly  of  the  little  he  had;  because 
he  was  most  humble,  he  showed  himself  mild  to  all, 
and  conforming  himself  to  the  customs  of  others, 
he  surpassed  the  most  holy  in  sanctity,  and  when 
among  sinners  considered  himself  as  one  of  them."^ 

a  Cel.,  83.  Cf.  Portraits  of  St.  Fraacis;  Thode: 
"Franz  von  Ass.,"  p.  59  ff.  Bournet:  "St.  Fran9ois 
d'Assise,"  p.  18  ff. 


Francis   the    Saint  71 

We  may  rely  on  this  picture  as  fairly  accurate, 
since  it  was  written  two  years  after  Francis's 
death.  The  minute  description  of  liis  physique 
reminds  one  of  the  typical  inhabitant  of  Southern 
Europe.  The  moral  characteristics  are  those 
of  the  saint,  such  as  he  appeared  towards  the 
end  of  his  Ufe,  when  his  nature  had  been  broken 
into  subjection  by  constant  ascetical  practices, 
and  by  the  cares  and  worry  of  a  founder's  life.^ 
The  holiness  and  virtues  of  the  gentle  Francis 
were  very  important  factors  in  the  influence 
which  he  exercised  over  his  contemporaries. 
One  may  not  neglect  them  in  any  study  of  him. 

Francis  is  a  canonized  saint.  The  title  Saint 
is  universally  applied  to  him,  and  it  is  as  a  saint 
that  he  is  most  securely  fixed  in  the  traditions 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  He  was  a  saint  before 
being  a  reformer.  His  love  of  God,  and  of  every- 
thing which  belongs  to  God,  brought  him  to 
social  reform. 

Francis  never  separated  in  his  own  mind  those 
two  objects:  God  and  reform;  to  reform  God's 
world  was  for  him  only  a  way  of  loving  God.  In 
his  youth  he  could  not  refuse  an  alms  when  it 
was  asked  him  in  the  name  of  God.  Love  of 
God  was  the  principle  which  inspired  all  his 
activity,  hence  he  could  not  see  the  needs  of  the 


72   Character  of   St.   Francis 

world  which  God  had  created  and  be  indifferent 
to  them. 

His  devotion  to  the  person  of  Christ  was  most 
tender,  and  he  had  no  other  desire  but  to  serve 
Him  and  bring  all  men  to  serve  and  love  Him. 
He  knew  of  no  other  reform  but  that  of  bring- 
ing back  the  Church  to  the  purity  of  her  first 
days,  when  she  came  immaculate  and  holy  from 
the  hands  of  her  Founder.  Hence  he  had  taken 
the  Apostles  as  models  for  himself  and  his  fol- 
lowers. Their  object  was  the  same  as  that  of  the 
Apostles:  the  conversion  of  the  world  to  the 
purity  of  Christ's  ideal. 

Again,  Francis  had  the  greatest  horror  for  sin. 
It  was  for  him  the  only  evil.  In  the  same  way 
as  he  saw  no  other  society  but  the  Christian 
Church,  so  also  he  saw  no  social  evil  other  than 
sin.  Reform  meant  only  the  elimination  of  sin. 
Wars,  dissensions,  hatreds,  violations  of  justice 
and  charity,  filled  the  world  because  of  sin,  and 
[Francis  set  to  work  to  bring  peace,  justice, 
'charity,  to  establish  the  reign  of  virtue.X  / 

The    contemporaries    of    Francis    loved    and 
admired  his  holiness.     It  made  him  the  hero  of. 
the  people.     When  he  appeared  in  Assisi  after 
his  conversion,  changed  in  habits,  in  looks,  in 
manners,   his  former  friends   were  ashamed  of 


Francis   the    Saint  73 

him,  called  him  a  fool,  and  threw  mud  and  stones 
at  him ;i  and  in  the  first  years  of  his  preaching, 
though  some  men  admired  him  and  his  com- 
panions, and  were  touched  by  their  words, 
others  thought  they  were  drunk  or  insane. 
Young  women  fled  at  their  approach,  and  young 
men  seized  them  by  the  hood  and  carried  them 
on  their  shoulders. ^  But  the  patience,  humility 
and  charity  with  which  they  met  this  rudeness, 
soon  converted  the  hardest  hearts,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  Francis  became  the  idol  of  the 
Itahan  population.  His  travels  through  the 
country  were  like  a  triumphal  march.  "When 
he  approached  a  town,"  says  Tommaso  di  Celano, 
**the  clergy  rejoiced,  the  bells  were  rung,  men- 
exulted,  women  were  filled  with  joy,  children 
applauded;  they  often  went  to  meet  him  in  pro- 
cession, threw  branches  and  flowers  on  the  road 
on  which  he  was  to  pass,  and  received  him  amidst 
the  singing  of  hymns  and  universal  jubilation." ^ 
As  he  advanced  in  age,  this  popularity  grew: 
**  He  is  truly  a  saint,  he  is  the  friend  of  the  Most 
High,"  they  said.*     They  esteemed  themselves 

»I  Cel.,  11.    3  Soc.,  17. 

2  3  Soc.,  34,  40. 

3 1  Cel.,  62. 

*  I  Cel.,  59.     Bon.,  175. 


74       Character   of   St.   Francis 

happy  if  they  could  only  touch  his  garment,  and 
sometimes  the  crowd  around  him  was  so  dense 
that  he  could  hardly  proceed.^ 

The  popular  belief  in  his  power  of  continually 
performing  miracles  still  further  increased  his 
prestige  as  a  saint.  The  earliest  records  tell  us 
that  the  birds  of  the  air,  the  fishes  of  the  sea, 
seemed  to  understand  him  and  to  love  him;  that 
fire  ceased  to  bum  at  the  sound  of  his  gentle 
voice;  that  sickness,  leprosy,  even  passion  and 
vice,  disappeared  at  his  command.  ^  The  Italians 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  so  full  of  faith,  so 
impressed  bj  the  reality  of  the  supernatural,  could 
not  fail  to  be  won  by  the  man  of  God,  and  they 
followed  him,  fascinated  by  his  holiness  and  power. 

The  student  of  the  life  of  Francis  should  not 
fail  to  give  due  importance  to  this  reputation  for 
holiness  which  the  saint  enjoyed  during  his 
active  career.  The  active,  emotional,  believing 
people,  whose  simple  earnestness  of  faith  dis- 
posed them  to  follow  and  obey  those  who  rep- 
resented God,  Christ,  or  who  showed  by  their  lives 
that  they  lived  in  the  presence  of  God,  readily-- 
gave  power  to  Francis  by  their  willing  obedience. 

We  may  account  for  it  as  we  will;  historically 

1 1  Cel.,  63. 

2 1  CeL,  63-70.    Bon.,  174-187.    (Tract,  de  Mirac.) 


Francis   the    Saint  75 

it  is  a  fact:  the  foundation   of   the  power  off 
Francis  lay  in  his  holiness  and  his  reputation  for  • 
sanctity.     But,  our  purpose  does  not  require  the 
study  of  the  process  of  life  which  brought  him 
to  the  vivid  consciousness  of  God.^ 

1  H.  Joly:  "Psychologic  dcs  Saints,"  5th  Ed.,  Paris, 
1898.  E.  Hello:  "Studies  in  Saintship,"  St.  Louis, 
1904. 


CHAPTER     II.— CHARACTERISTICS     OF 
MIND. 

1.  The  Emotional  Man. 

2.  The  Enthusiastic  Reformer. 

3.  The  Idealist. 

1-  A  MONG  the  saints,  some  were  inclined  to 
-^"^  sever  relations  with  the  world,  and  to  live 
with  God  as  exclusively  as  the  limitations  of 
life  allowed.  Few  perhaps,  have,  more  than 
Francis,  lived  with  God  and  for  God;  at  the  same 
time,  he  never  ceased  to  be  interested  in  men. 
It  has  been  said  that  he  was  the  most  human  of 
all  the  saints.  We  would  be  tempted  to  add  that 
he  was  the  most  human  of  all  reformers.  The 
reformer  is  sometimes  taken  up  by  an  ideal, 
forgetting  all  else;  his  affections,  liis  tastes,  his 
sympathies  for  other  interests  disappear. 

It  was  not  so  with  Francis;  the  saint  and 
reformer  always  remained  the  man,  with  all  the 
emotions,  the  sympathies,  the  love,  and  the 
gentle  feehngs  of  the  most  refined  human  nature. 


Characteristics   of   Mind    77 

Holiness  did  not  destroy  his  tender  aiffection 
for  human  nature,  but  rather  elevated  and 
sanctified  it.  His  sympathies  were  not  con- 
tracted by  his  reform  work,  as  is  so  often  the  case 
with  the  modern  reformer,  l/fhere  was  nothing 
in  the  world,  from  the  angels  in  heaven  to  the 
grass  and  rocks  of  the  field,  which  was  not  the 
object  of  his  love  and  admiration.  I/^ 

Trained  by  a  tender  mother,  in  a  country  on 
which  nature  had  lavished  all  her  riches  and 
beauties,  at  a  time  when  love  and  pleasure 
alternated  with  bitter  rivalries  and  wars,  and 
when  chivalry  and  profane  poetry  had  intro- 
duced a  spirit  of  gallantry  and  an  exquisite 
sensibility,  the  young  Francis's  emotional 
nature  developed  to  such  an  extent,  that  it 
remained  unaffected  by  either  the  asceticism 
of  the  saint  or  the  disappointments  of  the 
reformer. 

The  love  which,  from  his  boyhood,  he  had  for 
the  poor,  the  sympathy  which  he  felt  for  the 
lepers  from  the  time  of  his  conversion,  could  not 
but  increase  when  he  consecrated  himself  to  their 
service.  However,  he  kept  unto  the  end  his  love 
for  nature,  for  poetry,  for  chivalry,  and  for  every- 
thing which  appealed  to  the  more  tender  senti- 
ments of  the  human  soul.     His  heart  was  con- 


78  Character   of    St.    Francis 

sumed  by  the  passion  of  love.  He  loved  God, 
he  loved  his  dear  poverty,  his  Lady  Poverty,  he 
loved  men,  particularly  the  poor,  the  weak,  the 
sick,  the  unfortunate;  but  he  also  loved  nature, 
irrational  creatures,  the  birds  and  the  fishes, 
the  trees  and  the  flowers,  which  were  all  his 
brothers  and  his  sisters. 

This  love  for  God,  and  for  everything  which 
came  from  God,  brought  him  to  social  reform. 
Francis  saw  the  world  from  God's  point  of  view; 
all  was  good  because  all  came  from  God.  "And 
God  saw  that  it  was  good."^  Only  one  creature 
broke  this  beautiful  harmony :  man  disturbed  the 
general  equilibrium.  He  did  not  return  to  God 
the  praises  due;  he  had  forgotten  his  Creator; 
man  was  himself  divided, — one  nation  at  war 
against  another,  one  class  striving  against 
another,  the  rich  against  the  poor,  the  poor 
against  the  rich.  There  was  no  unity,  no  har- 
mony, no  beauty  in  the  human  world,  and 
Francis  set  to  work  to  repair  the  world  of  God 
and  reestabHsh  the  lost  harmony  on  the  model 
of  the  Apostolic  Church.  vAs  social  reformer, 
he  never  ceased  to  be  at  heart  a  true  artist,  a 
man  keenly  alive  to  the  sense  of  harmony,  of 

1  Gen.  i.  Cf.  the  idea  of  moral  harmony  in  man 
in  St.  Bernard  and  St.  Thomas  Aquinas. 


Characteristics   of   Mind     79 

beauty  in  the  world;  but  more  particularly  in 
the  world  of  men,  in  the  Christian  world,  which 
he  tried  to  bring  back  to  its  proper  harmony 
wath  God  the  Creator. 

Francis  was  a  npet  as  well  as  an  artist — ^he  loved 
poetry,  and  favored  the  cultivation  of  its  spirit 
in  his  community;  he  wrote  it^  and  used  it  as  a 
means  of  social  reform,  a  means  which  in  that 
imaginative  age  often  proved  very  effective. 

The  sympathy  of  Francis  for  nature,  his 
mystical  contemplation  of  the  world  of  God,  his 
understanding  of  the  harmonies  of  the  universe, 
his  burning  love  for  all  that  came  from  God, 
could  not  fail  to  reveal  themselves  in  poetic 
conceptions  and  poetic  expressions.  Tommaso 
di  Celano  tells  us  that  he  invited  all  beings,  "  the 
rivers  and  the  seas,  the  mountains  and  the  val- 
leys, men  and  angels,  to  praise  their  Maker,  and 
he  remained  in  the  center  of  this  concert  like  an 
inspired  musician,  summing  up  in  his  heart  all 
the  sublime  harmonies,  to  offer  them  up  in 
burning  adorations  to  Him  who  is  the  source 
of  all  harmony  and  all  beauty."* 

^  Cf.  A.  F.  Ozanam:  *'Les  Poetes  Franciscains  en 
Italie  au  treizieme  siecle."  Goerres:  "Der  heil. 
Franciscus  v.  Ass.,  ein  Troubadour." 

2 1  Gel.,  80,  81. 


80   Character  of    St.    Francis 

It  was  in  one  of  these  moments  of  poetic  fervor 
that  Francis  composed  the  famous  Canticle  of 
Creatures : 

"Altissimo  omnipotente  bon  Signore, 

"Tue  son  laude."^ 

Francis  called  himself  an  illiterate  man,  and 
though  his  humility  may  &ave  exaggerated  the 
sense  of  his  limitations  in  learning,  yet  we  know 
that  in  his  youth  he  never  studied  with  great 
ardor,  and  that,  in  the  first  years  of  the  founda- 
tion of  his  order,  he  made  very  little  of  science. 
But  we  never  find  any  such  slighting  opinion  of' 
poetry.  On  the  contrary,  he  always  cultivated 
it,  honored  poets,  received  them  into  his  order 
with  the  greatest  welcome,  and  encouraged  them 
in  the  practice  of  their  art.  We  know  that 
Brother  Pacificus,  the  "King  of  verses,"  was  a 
favorite  friend  of  Francis,  and  that  probably  he 
retouched  much  of  the  saint's  poetic  compo- 
sitions. 2 

1  "  B.  P.  Franc.  Ass.  Op."  Spec.  Perf .,  Cap.  120.  Cf. 
also  music  and  poetry  which  he  composed  for  the 
Poor  Clares:  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  90.  Cf.  also  C.  Zac- 
chetti:  "Francesco  d'Assisi  e  le  Laudes  Creatura- 
rum."     Assisi,  1904. 

2  Bon.,  50,  51.  Spec.  Perf.,  p.  108,  note  2.  Ozanam : 
•'Les  Poetes  Franc,"  pp.  107-109.  Mon.  Germ., 
V.  22. 


Characteristics   of   Mind     81 

Francis  relied  on  poetrj  in  his  reform  work: 
his  brethren  were  to  learn  his  poetic  strains  and  ^ 
recite  them,  like  the  troubadours  and  the  jong- 
leurs, on  the  streets,  on  the  roads,  on  the  public 
squares,  to  excite  all  to  praise  the  Lord.  *'The 
most  eloquent  among  them  should  preach  to  the 
people,  and  after  the  sermon  all  should  sing  the 
*  Laudes  Domini '  as  the  jongleurs  of  the  Lord. 
Then  after  the  singing  of  the  'Laudes,'  the 
preacher  should  say  to  the  people:  *We  are 
the  jongleurs  of  the  Lord,  and  for  this  we  wish  to 
be  rewarded  by  you;  the  reward  shall  be  that 
you  should  do  penance,' " — and  St.  Francis  added: 
**What  are  indeed  the  servants  of  God  but  His 
jongleurs,  who  must  raise  their  hearts  to  Him  and 
fill  them  with  spiritual  joy."»  This  troubadour 
way  of  preaching  the  word  of  God  could  not  fail 
to  affect  the  souls  of  the  romantic  contempo- 
raries of  Francis. 

The  sentiments  which  he  expressed  in  verse 
touched  the  heart  and  converted  it  in  a  way 
which  directly  promoted  social  peace.  No  other 
object  was  nearer  to  liis  heart.  On  the  occa- 
sion of  reconciliation  between  the  bishop  and  the 
mayor  of  Assisi,  he  merely  composed  a  few 
appropriate    verses    and    ordered    some    of    his 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  100. 


82   Character  of   St.    Francis 

brethren  to  go  and  sing  in  chorus,  before  the 
bishop  and  the  officers  of  the  town,  the  Canticle 
of  the  "Laudes  Domini,"  with  the  addition  of 
the  new  strain.     Peace  was  immediately  arranged. 

The  artistic  and  poetic  nature  of  Francis  was 
deeply  imbued  with  the  chivalric  spirit  of  the 
time,  and  this  feature  of  his  character  is  also 
closely  connected  with  his  reform  work  and  has 
left  its  imprint  on  the  Franciscan  movement  of 
the  thirteenth  century. 

The  institution  of  chivalry  blended  religion 
and  military  valor  with  the  finest  feelings  of 
human  nature.  It  had  reached  its  highest  devel- 
opment in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries. 
In  Francis's  time  the  armies  of  Europe  and  the 
military  orders  still  offered  to  the  world  the 
example  of  courageous,  fearless  knights,  ready  to 
offer  their  lives  for  the  sake  of  their  rehgion  and 
their  God;  but  the  finer  feelings  in  chivalry,  its 
sweet  devotion  to  the  poor,  to  the  weak,  to  the 
widows,  to  the  orphans,  its  veneration  for  woman, 
its  amiable  and  poetic  language,  its  courtesy, — 
to  use  a  word  which,  derived  from  the  manners 
of  the  feudal  courts ^< expresses  well  the  outward 
manifestation  of  sweet,  kind,  generous  sentiments, 
— had    almost    disappeared.  ^ 

iLeon  Gauthier:  "La  Chevalerie,"  Paris,  s.  d. 


Characteristics   of   Mind    83 

^  Francis  was  of  a  chivalric  character  before  his 
conversion :  his  ambition  was  to  become  a  knight, 
and  he  had  not  only  the  brave,  generous  self-sacri- 
ficing spirit  of  the  ideal  knight,  but  also  his  gentle- 
ness, amiability,  tenderness,  and  sympathy  for 
the  weak,  the  poor,  the  infirm.^  When  he  entered 
upon  the  new  hfe,  he  did  not  cease  to  be  a  true 
knight.  He  embraced  the  new  career  as  a  knight 
would  espouse  a  great  and  noble  cause  in  which 
his  valor  and  generosity  were  to  be  put  to  severe 
test.  His  historian,  Tommaso  di  Celano,  calls 
him  constantly,  "the  soldier  of  Christ."'  The 
conversion  of  the  Church  and  the  social  reform 
which  he  contemplated,  appeared  to  him  as 
a  chivalric  enterprise.  ^  His  followers  were  his 
knights,  or  rather  the  knights  of  God.  When 
Brother  Egidio  begged  him  to  be  admitted  into 
the  order:  "Brother,"  Francis  answered,  "you 
ask  the  Lord,  to  receive  you  as  His  servant  and 
His  knight.  This  is  no  small  favor.  If  the 
emperor  were  passing  through  Assisi,  and  if  he  were 
pleased  to  select  a  favorite,  everyone  would  say, 
*Pray  Heaven  it  may  be  I.'  How  much  more 
ought  you  to  bless  the  great  King  of  heaven  for 

1  Cf.  for  instance  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  27-39. 
2 1  Cel.,  9,  36,  72,  etc.     .     .     . 
'Spec.  Perf.,  p.  xxix:   "La  reforme  de  I'Eglise  lui 
apparait  comme  une  sorte  de  chevaucliee  epique." 


84  Character  of    St.    Francis 

having  cast  His  eyes  upon  you  ?  "  ^  Later  he  was 
accustomed  to  say,  in  his  chivalric  style,  that 
*'Egidio  was  one  of  his  paladins  of  the  Round 
Table. "2  In  fact,  this  i^  the  title  which  he  gave 
to  all  his  disciples  iV^*  These  ^re  my  brothers, 
soldiers  of  the  Round  Tables  The  reward  of 
their  meAts  and  of  their  works  is  the  eternal 
kingdom  which  they  have  conquered  by  the 
violence  of  their  humility,  their  simplicity,  their 
prayers,  and  their  tears. "^  Only  with  difficulty 
could  one  find  a  more  natural  or  attractive  com- 
bination of  the  religious  and  the  chivalric  spirit. 
To  a  novice  who  requested  the  permission  to  have 
a  psalter,  he  answered  again  in  his  chivalric 
style:  "Charles  the  Emperor  and  Roland  and 
Oliver,  and  all  the  paladins,  and  all  the  robust 
heroes  who  were  powerful  on  the  battle-field, 
pursuing  the  heathens,  sparing  neither  sweat 
nor  labor,  even  unto  death,  conquered  their 
enemies,  and  the  holy  martyrs  themselves  have 
died  in  the  lists  for  Christ's  faith.  But  now,  1 
there  are  many  who  are  satisfied  with  readingXI 
the  narration  of  their  deeds  and  expect  to  receive  ^ 
honor  and  human  praise."* 

1  Acta  Sanct.,  Ap.  23,  de  B.  (Egidio,  Cap.  I,  2. 

2  Id.  Cap.  II,  9. 

3  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  72. 
*  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  4. 


^ 


Characteristics   of   Mind    85 

^His   constant   effort   was    to   infuse   into   his    ' 
disciples  not  only  courage,  but  also  affectionate 
sympathy  for  the  weak,  for  the  wronged,  for  all 
those   who  suffer — traits  which  had    been  the 
noblest  ornament  of  chivalry,  v 

He  introduced  into  his  order  and  into  religion 
itself  the    tender   human    emotions,    the   sweet 
human  love  which,  with  Francis,  from  profane,^ 
became    sanctified    by    being    directed    to    the 
holiest  and  noblest  objects  of  rehgion. 

There  was  no  chivalry  without  the  "Lady"; 
the  true  knight  always  had  his  lady  to 
whom  he  consecrated  himself;  he  would  go 
about  in  quest  of  adventures  for  the  honor 
of  his  lady,  whose  beauty  and  perfections 
he  wished  to  be  known  and  admired  by  the 
entire  world.  The  knight  Francis  could  not 
fail  to  have  his  lady.  She  is  the  noblest,  the 
richest,  the  fairest  maiden  whom  men  ever  saw.* 
But  it  is  poverty  which  will  be  during  all  his  life  / 
the  lady  of  his  thoughts,  the  lady  of  his  heart, 
his  spouse  whom  he  loves  above  all  things.  For 
her  he  will  go  about  the  world  and  proclaim 
everywhere  her  beauty  and  glory.  She  has  been 
neglected,  forgotten,  abandoned  by  the  world; 
but  now  the  w^orld  must  know  her  again,  love  her 

1 1  CeL,  7;  II  Cel.,  Ill,  1.     3  Soc.,  7. 


t 


86   Character   of    St.    Francis 

and  embrace  her.  She  is  all  beautiful  and  the 
kings  fall  in  love  with  her.  To  her  Francis  has 
vowed  an  eternal  love,  and  it  will  be  the  first  duty 
of  his  followers  to  love  her  and  sing  her  grandeur. » 
There  is  nothing  more  chivalric,  more  poetic, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  more  tender  and  sweet 
than  the  prayer  of  Francis  in  favor  of  Lady 
Poverty:  "She was  in  the  crib, and, like  a  faithful 
squire,  she  remained  well  armed  at  your  side 
during  the  great  battle  which  you  have  waged 
for  our  redemption.  In  your  Passion  she  alone 
has  not  abandoned  you.  Mary,  your  Mother, 
remained  at  the  foot  of  the  cross;  but  Poverty 
ascended  with  you  the  wood  of  the  cross  and 
pressed  you  to  her  bosom  to  the  end.  .  .  . 
She,  attentive  spouse,  when  you  died  with  thirst, 
prepared  for  you  the  gall  which  you  drank. 
You  have  expired  in  her  sweet  embrace  .  .  . 
etc."^ 

^  3  Soc,  50.  Cf.  " Commercium  B.  Franc,  cum 
Domina  Paupertate." 

2  "B.  P.  Franc.  Ass.  Opera."  This  prayer  is 
regarded  as  spurious  by  many  authors  and  has  been 
left  out  of  the  Quaracchi  edition  of  St.  Francis's 
works.  However,  all  admit  that  it  represents  perfectly 
the  spirit  of  St.  Francis.  Cf.  also  Giotto's  fresco: 
Francis  placing  the  ring  on  the  finger  of  his  bride. 
Poverty;  Thode,  p.  480  ff.  Dante:  "Paradiso,"  Cant, 
xi,  lines  28-123.  Montgomery  CarmichaeU  "Lady 
Poverty." 


Characteristics   of   Mind    87 

These  same  sentiments  are  found  in  all  the 
religious  and  mystical  poetry  of  Francis  and  his 
followers,  in  the  "In  foco  Tamor  mi  mise,"  in 
the  "Amor  di  Caritate,"  and  many  others 
belonging  to  the  early  Franciscan  school.  In 
all  of  them  we  see  the  sweetest  love,  the  tender- 
est  emotions  of  human  nature  as  well  as  the  refine- 
ment, the  gallantry  of  that  chivalry  which,  under 
the  influence  of  the  emotional,  poetic  and 
chivalric  Francis,  came  then  to  the  service  of 
religion,  and  remained  for  a  long  time  charac- 
teristic of  the  Franciscan  movement,  and  to  a 
great  extent,  of  the  ItaHan  religious  spirit.^ 

2.  Francis  was  a  man  of  great  ideals.  He 
was  a  true  and  loving  friend  of  the  poor  and  all 
who  suffered;  he  had  all  the  chivalric  sentiments 
of  a  knight.  He  was  a  poet,  and  in  the  real 
sense  of  the  word,  an  artist.  These  varied  powers 
were  fused  by  a  great  enthusiasm  which  added 
immensely  to  his  iufluence.  This  enthusiasm 
reveals  itself  from  the  very  boyhood  of  Francis. 

^Cf.  E.  Gebhart:  "Italic  Mystique,"  Paris,  1899, 
pp.  n,  136.  "Love of  the  Saints,"  in"Contemp.  Rev.," 
Vol.  67,  p.  499.  F.  Ozanam:  "Les  Poetes  Francis- 
cains."  Cf.  also  in  connection  with  this  the  charges 
of  "sensual  devotion"  (Michelet,  III,  116),  "religious 
erotics"  (Bournet,  p.  57),  and  "Mariolatry"  (B.  F. 
Westcott,  in  "Social  Aspects  of  Christianity,"  p.  1 1 1). 


88  Character   of    St.    Francis 

In  his  youth  he  abandoned  himself  with  great 
ardor  to  pleasures  and  society.  Later,  war  for 
liberty  engaged  him.  A  long  stay  in  the  dun- 
geons of  Perugia  failed  to  dampen  the  enthusiasm 
which  surprised  and  even  scandahzed  his  com- 
panions in  misfortune:  "Ah,  you  are  sur-  > 
prised,"  he  answers;  "do  you  not  know  that  I 
shall  be  adored  by  the  whole  world ?"i  With  the 
same  enthusiasm  he  left  Assisi  to  join  the 
brave  Gauthier  de  Brienne,  the  protector  of  the 
rights  of  the  Holy  See,  the  hero  of  Capua,  of 
Canne,  whose  name  alone  made  all  hearts 
thrill  with  admiration.  To  fight  for  the  rights  of 
the  Roman  Pontiff,  to  war  against  the  invaders  of 
his  native  country,  to  win  for  himself  a  name  on 
the  battle-field,  to  deserve  perhaps  one  day  the 
honors  of  knighthood,  to  receive  maybe  his 
knight's  sword  from  the  very  hands  of  the  hero 
Gauthier  de  Briefme,  was  a  great  prospect  which 
Francis  embraced  eagerly,  convinced  that  he 
"will  now  become  a  great  prince."^  With  the 
same  ardor  he  returned  to  Assisi  only  a  few  days 
later:  "I  will  stay  in  my  own  country,"  he  says, 
"and  here  I  will  accomplish  grand  and  noble 
things." 

aiCel.,1, 1.     3Soc.,4. 

2 1  Cel.,  4;  II  Cel.,  I,  2.     3  Soc,  5.     Bon.,  9,  10. 


^     O-   THE 


UNIVERSITY 

OF 

Characteristics   of   Mind    89 

The  eagerness  with  which  he  consecrated  him- 
self to  the  reconstruction  of  the  church  of  Santo 
Damiano,  adopted  the  life  of  the  Apostles  on 
hearing  the  Gospel  of  the  Feast  of  St.  Matthias 
t  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  preached  to  the  people 
of  Assisi  and  recruited  his  first  companions, 
shows  that  his  native  enthusiasm  had  only 
increased  und^r  the  influence  of  a  higher  and 
nobler  ideal.^  A  strong  conviction  had  taken 
hold  of  his  mind:  the  Church  of  God  needed 
reform;  he  would  accomphsh  this  reform  by 
bringing  back  the  Church  to  the  purity  of  its 
first  days.  This  became  the  great  object  of 
his  Hf e.  No  difficulty  could  hinder  him ;  in  fact 
the  difficulties  which  he  met, — the  tender 
reproaches  of  his  mother,  the  severe  and  ci-uel 
action  of  his  father,  the  jeers  and  scorn  of  his 
friends,  the  persecutions  to  which  he  and  his 
companions  were  subjected  during  their  first 
missionary  travels,  the  divisions  among  his 
brethren,  and  later,  the  opposition  of  some  of  the 
highest  members  of  the  order, — all  these,  how- 
ever deeply  felt  by  his  sensitive  nature,  did  not 
deter  him  from  his  object.  They  became  new 
incentives  to  redoubled  efforts  in  the  work  of 
reform. 

When  we  consider  that  the  active  life  of  St. 


90  Character  of   St.   Francis 

Francis  embraced  only  seventeen  years  (1209- 
1226),  that  during  this  short  time  he  traveled 
through  most  European  countries  and  through 
Egypt  and  Palestine,  that  he  founded  and 
directed  the  first  order  of  the  *'Minores,"  thesecond 
order  of  the  Poor  Ladies,  and  the  Third  Order,  in 
which  all  classes  were  united  by  a  common  rule 
and  uniform  life;  when  we  recall  that  these 
orders  had,  by  the  time  of  Francis's  death,  spread 
in  all  countries  then  known,  and  counted  thou- 
sands of  members  in  each  country, — we  may 
well  be  struck  with  astonishment  at  the  immense 
activity  displayed  by  the  wonderful  poor  man 
of  Assisi. 

This  activity,  particularly  during  the  first 
years  of  his  missionary  life,  was  accompanied 
by  an  intense  and  childlike  joy,  which  sprung 
from  his  very  passion  for  poverty  and  for  the 
reform  which  he  preached.  This  joy  became 
characteristic  of  the  Franciscan  reform  move- 
ment, and  was  one  of  its  elements  of  strength. 
"To  the  devil  and  his  followers  belongs  sadness, 
to  us  joy  and  happiness  in  the  Lord,'*i  he  said 
to  his  brothers,  and  he  made  it  a  point  of  his  rule 
of  1221,  that  they  Should  be  careful  not  to  show 

1 II  CeL,  III,  65.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  95. 


Characteristics   of   Mind    91 

themselves  sad  and  dejected,  but  rejoicing  in  the 
Lord,  happy  and  courteous."*^  / 

In  fact,  for  Francis,  this  joy  was  more  than  the 
mere  external  outburst  of  an  exalted  state  of 
mind;  it  was  a  condition  of  success;  the  world 
can  not  be  reformed  by  sadness  and  melancholy, 
and  "a  joyful  disposition  has  sometimes  more 
influence  on  men  than  the  good  actions  them- 
selves; if  a  good  action  is  not  done  fervently  and 
joyfully,  it  rather  causes  sadness  than  incites  to 
do  good."2 

The  disciples  of  Francis,  faithful  to  the  lessons 
of  their  master,  imitated  him  so  faithfully  that 
Franciscan  cheerfulness  became  proverbial.  Liv- 
ing in  a  wooden  house  in  Stinking  Lane,  Newgate 
Street,  one  of  the  most  miserable  and  offensive 
quarters  of  London,  and  clinging  together  to 
warm  themselves;  or  traveling  through  Germany, 
where  the  rude  inhabitants  with  cruel  levity 
stripped  them  of  their  clothes;  or  seized  by  the 
ferocious  Saracens  and  thrown  into  dark  cellars 
from  which  they  were  to  go  out  only  to  be  led  to  - 
death, — everywhere  they  showed  themselves  to 

1  Reg.  la.  Cap.  vii.  II  Cel.,  IH,  68.  Spec.  Perf., 
Cap.  25,  95,  96.  Cf.  also  P.  Sabatier's  note  in  Spec. 
Perf.,  p.  190. 

2  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  96. 


'J 


92  Character  of   St.   Francis 

be  happy  and  cheerful.^  Egidio,  one  of  the 
favorite  disciples  of  Francis,  would  *'kiss  the 
grass,  the  stones/ and  other  things  of  this  kind 
for  very  joy/'^VPoor  with  the  poor,  courteous  — 
with  the  rich,  respectful  toward  ecclesiastics 
and  princes,  they  made  themselves  all  to  all, 
adapting  themselves  to  all  circumstances,  and 
spreading  everywhere  joy  and  contentment 
People  had  never  seen  anything  like  these  monks. 
Traveling  barefoot,  working  at  the  different 
trades  and  in  the  fields,  eating  with  their  fellow- 
laborers,  conversing  with  them,  singing  for  them, 
begging  when  they  had  nothing  to  eat,  and  always 
happy  and  cheerful, — this  was  indeed  a  novelty 
in  the  Church,  and  quite  a  contrast  with  the  rich, 
silent,  and  stern  Benedictines,  who  were  seldom 
seen  outside  of  their  monasteries. V^eople  began 
to  reaHze  that  there  is  happiness  outside  of--» 
riches,  outside  of  power,  outside  of  worldly 
pleasures ;  that  there  is  happiness  in  poverty,  in 
sviffering,  in  tears,  in  persecution.  l/They  had 
heard  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  read  to  them 

1  Jordanus  de  Giano:  "Chronica,"  in  Anal.  Franc, 
I,  n.  27,  p.  10.  Glasberger:  "Chronica,"  in  Anal. 
Franc,  II,  p.  13.  Wadding,  T.  I,  an.  1216,  n.  ix. 
Brewer:  "Monum.  Franc,"  Vol.  I,  p.  xvii  ff. 

2  Spec  Perf.,  Cap.  96.  Acta  Sanct.,  Ap.  23,  Tom. 
Ill,  p.  227. 


Characteristics   of   Mind    93 

perhaps — "  Blessed  are  the  poor  .  .  .  blessed 
are  those  who  suffer.  .  .  ." — but  the  truth 
of  these  words  had  never  come  home  to  them 
until  they  saw  the  poor  Franciscans.  It  was  a 
revelation  to  them,  and  a  revelation  which  con- 
tained the  germ  not  only  of  a  religious  but  of 
a  social  reform  as  well.^ 

3.  The  emotional,  enthusiastic,  exalted  nature 
of  Francis  indicates  a  great  development  of  the 
imaginative  faculties,  which  fact  led  some  histori- 
ans and  psychologists  to  express  doubt  regarding 
his  sanity.  Some  have  made  him  a  mere  vision- 
ary,^  others  a  fanatic,  ^  others  an  altruistic  luna- 

1 II  Cel.,  Ill,  65-68.  The  Perfect  Joy:  "Actus  B. 
Franc,"  Cap.  7,  and  "Fioretti,"  Cap.  8.  The 
following  quotation  of  Renan  is  to  the  point: 
*'L'humanite,  pour  porter  son  fardeau,  a  besoin  de 
croire  qu'elle  n'est  pas  completement  payee  par  son 
salaire.  Le  plus  grand  service  qu'on  puisse  lui  rendre 
est  de  lui  repeter  souvent  qu'elle  ne  vit  pas  seulement 
de  pain."     "Vie  de  Jesus,"  12eme  edition,  1864,  p.  184. 

2  Petrus  Pomponatius,  Cornelius  Agrippa,  Giordano 
Bruno  in  sixteenth  century.  Also  all  free  thinkers 
who  attribute  the  stigmata  to  an  overheated  imagina- 
tion. Cf.  Imbert-Gourbeyre :  "L'hypnotisme  et  la  stig- 
matization."    Paris,  1899. 

3  Neander:  "History  of  the  Christian  Church," 
Eng.  ed.,  Vol.  iv,  p.  273  ff. 


94  Character   of    St.    Francis 

tici  or  a  gentle  fool. 2  Indeed  there  was  little 
reasoning  in  Francis.  Emerson  relates  the  meet-  ^ 
ing  of  Abul  Khain,  the  mystic,  and  Abu  Ali 
Seena,  the  philosopher,  and  tells  us  that  on 
parting,  the  philosopher  said,  "All  that  he  sees,  I 
know,"  and  the  mystic  said,  "All  that  he  knows,4. 
I  see."  Francis  saw  things  more  than  he  under- 
stood them:  he  saw  poverty,  his  ideal;  it  was 
always  present  before  his  mind,  like  a  most 
beautiful  picture.  It  was  not  for  him  the  result 
of  a  dogmatic  or  logical  process,  it  was  an  intu- 
ition. 

From  the  day  when  he  had  heard  read  in  the 
church  of  Santa  Maria  degli  AngeH  the  Gospel  nar- 
rative telhng  how  the  Apostles,  on  the  counsel  of 
Our  Lord,  embraced  a  life  of  poverty,  to  his  last 
moments,  when  he  wished  to  be  put  naked  on 
the  floor,  in  order  to  imitate  the  poverty  of  Our 
Lord  dying  naked  on  the  cross,  he  never  ceased 
to  have  his  eyes  fixed  on  this  cherished  ideal. 

1  Aug.  Comte.  Cf.  the  medical  studies  on  St. 
Francis  by  Cotelle  (p.  157)  and  Bournet  (p.  101). 

2  Henry  Hallam:  "View  of  the  state  of  Europe 
during  M.  A.,"  9th  edition,  London,  1846,  Vol.  II,  in 
which  he  calls  Francis  "a  harmless  enthusiast  .  .  . 
hardly  of  sane  mind."  E.  Renan:  "Nouvelles  etudes 
religieuses,"  1884,  pp.  325, 336,  "un  accesde  charmante 
foUe." 


Characteristics   of   Mind    95 

He  saw  poverty  as  no  one  outside  of  his  school, 
perhaps,  ever  saw  it  before,  or  since. 

Many  others  have  voluntarily  joined  the  ranks 
of  the  poor  of  Christ;  they  have  given  their  goods 
to  the  poor,  in  order  to  be  poor  themselves;  or 
they  have  embraced  religious  poverty,  renouncing 
every  desire  to  possess  the  goods  of  this  world; 
but  for  these  poverty  was  a  means,  not  an  end. 
The  danger  in  riches  led  some  to  make  the  sacri- 
fice of  material  goods  in  order  to  protect  their 
spiritual  interests.  Others  have  seen  in  this 
sacrifice  a  guarantee  of  humility,  mortification, 
confidence  in  divine  Providence.  Others  again 
have  been  struck  by  the  words  of  Our  Lord  in  His 
Sermon  on  the  Mount :  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit:  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"^ 
and  to  gain  the  kingdom  of  heaven  they  have 
renounced  the  satisfactions  of  this  life. 
^  Reformers  have  adopted  poverty  as  a  condition, 
or  even  as  a  means,  of  social  reform.  By  their 
doctrine  and  example  they  condemned  the 
abuses  caused  by  the  possession  of  excessive 
riches,  and  exhorted  the  rich  to  live  a  simpler 
and  more  Christian  life,  the  poor  to  bear  with 
patience  and  even  with  joy  the  state  in  which 
Providence  had  placed  them. 
1  Mat.  V.  3. 


i 


96  Character   of    St.    Francis 

v'ln  Francis  the  process  of  mind  was  much 
simpler.  It  is  ti*ue,  for  him  poverty  was  a  means 
of  personal  sanctification  and  of  reform  ;i  but  it 
was  far  more  than  that.  It  was  for  him  what 
an  axiom,  an  evident  truth  is  for  us.  It  was 
a  concrete  fact,  always  present  before  his 
mind;  he  saw  it  and  loved  it.  He  loved  it 
for  itself,  not  only  as  a  means,  but  as  an 
end.  Regardless  of  its  personal  and  social 
advantages,  poverty  was  for  Francis  an  all- 
sufficient  ideal:  to  contemplate,  to  love,  to  realize 
in  himself  and  in  others  this  beautiful  ideal, 
would  have  been  ample  reward  for  him.  For 
Francis  poverty  was  not  a  privation,  a  sacrifice; 
but  a  treasure,  a  priceless  pearl,  which  can  not 
but  be  cherished  for  its  very  beauty. 2*  His  mind 
was  filled  with  the  beauty  of  the  ideal,  rather^ 
than  with  the  distress  of  actual  poverty.  Poverty 
was  dear  to  him,  no  matter  where  it  came  from, 
or  in  whom  it  was  found.  His  brethren  were 
often  inclined  to  distinguish  between  poor  and 
poor,  as  we  do  to-day.  But  Francis  did  not 
discriminate  between  causes,  merits,  and  effects 
in  poverty.  Francis  was  an  idealist  and  poverty 
was  his  ideal.  / 

1 II  Cel.,  Ill,  17,  23. 

m  Cel.,  Ill,   1-29.     Bon.,  88.     Actus  B.  Franc, 
and  Fioretti,  Cap.  13. 


Characteristics   of   Mind    97 

The  idealist,  be  he  painter,  poet,  or  reformer, 
proceeds  by  abstractions.  The  ideal  which  he 
has  formed  for  himself  may  have  its  foundation 
in  reality,  but  it  is  not  the  whole  reaUty.  All 
that  may  mar  the  beautiful  picture  is  carefully 
left  out.  In  fact  there  is  no  imitative  art  with- 
out a  process  of  idealization.  The  painter  who 
would  attempt  to  reproduce  in  his  landscape 
all  details  without  discrimination,  might  well 
meet  with  failure,  and  the  writer,  if  too  realistic, 
may  often  offend  the  honest  and  deUcate  reader. 
The  artist  makes  a  careful  selection,  brings  into 
light  one  order  of  facts  or  certain  aspects  of  the 
reality  which  he  wishes  to  represent.  His  ideal 
is  not  a  mere  fact,  as  found  in  nature,  a  reality 
pure  and  simple,  but  a  fact  divested  of  its 
grosser  and  less  refined  elements.  Francis,  an 
idealist,  an  artist,  did  not  see  poverty  as  we 
common  mortals  see  it,  caused  by  vice,  intem- 
perance, laziness;  he  did  not  see  the  poverty  of  A 
the  slums  accompanied  by  filth  and  misery,  re- 
sulting in  despair,  crime,  suicide.  In  Francis's 
mind  all  these  elements  had  unconsciously  disap- 
peared into  the  background.  There  remained 
one  beautiful,  ideaHzed  figure,  the  poverty  em- 
braced by  Christ  and  His  Apostles;  the  poverty 
abandoned,   despised   by  an  unchristian  world, 


98  Character   of    St.    Francis 

but  dear  to  a  follower  of  Christ  and  of  the 
Apostles. 

Francis  did  not  possess  a  speculative  mind; 
we  find  in  him  no  taste  for  science  and  learning; 
he  saw  everything  in  concrete  images;  in  the 
same  way  he  pictured  poverty  to  his  imagination, 
as  a  natural  living  being.  So  also,  he  gave  a 
sensible  form  to  religion,  to  the  Church  and  to 
everything  more  or  less  abstract.  Religion  for 
him  was  nothing  else  but  Christ,  the  Babe  of 
Bethlehem  and  his  "  sweet  Mother  Mary,"  and 
the  saints.  The  Church  appeared  to  him  in  the 
person  of  the  Holy  Father,  the  bishops  and 
the  priests.  What  he  knew  of  the  need  of 
reform  in  the  Christian  world  was  nothing  other 
than  a  keenly  felt  contrast  between  Christ  and 
the  Christian  of  his  time;  Christ  poor,  humble, 
loving,  suffering ;  the  Christian  of  Francis's 
time  greedy,  proud,  selfish,  bent  on  pleasure. 
The  Apostles,  by  their  preaching  and  their  ex- 
amples had  transformed  the  world,  and  Francis 
saw  no  one  who  would  follow  the  Apostles, 
imitate  their  virtues,  their  poverty,  their  zeal, 
and  save  the  world. 

A  more  philosophical  mind  might  have  mini- 
mized the  evil,  attributed  it  to  circumstances 
which  time  would  soon  alter,  studied  the  need 


Characteristics   of   Mind       99 

of  the  age,  tried  to  adapt  the  remedies  used  by 
Christ  and  the  Apostles  to  the  changed  con- 
ditions of  mankind.  No  such  process  takes  place 
in  Francis's  mind.  Christ,  the  Apostles,  poverty, 
came  to  him  as  a  commanding  vision.  Christ 
had  said  to  His  Apostles :  "  Take  nothing  for  your 
journey;  neither  staff,  nor  scrip,  nor  money,  nor 
bread;  neither  have  two  coats."  For  Francis 
there  is  no  compromise.  These  words  of  the 
Gospel  are  to  be  taken  literally,  and  neither  he 
nor  his  disciples  will  have  staff  or  scrip  or  money 
or  bread  or  two  coats. 

Many  did  not  understand  him;  they  derided 
his  mode  of  life  and  his  practices.  Many  of  the 
most  eminent  men  of  the  time  opposed  him. 
He  had  no  eyes  but  for  his  cherished  ideal,  for 
the  ideal  of  Christ  and  His  Apostles;  he  had  no 
ears  but  for  the  voice  of  God  manifested  to  him 
in  the  Gospel  and  in  his  frequent  intercourse 
with  God.  He  was  insensible  to  all  else, — not  only 
to  mockery  and  opposition,  but  to  honors  as  well. 
His  faculties  were  so  much  taken  up  with  guard- 
ing his  work,  that  purely  human  events  made  no 
impression  upon  him.  Sometimes  he  seemed  to 
be,  as  it  were,  unconscious  of  the  excitement 
which  his  presence  alone  caused  among  the  people. 
One  day,  toward  the  end  of  his  life,  as  he  was 


100     Character   of    St.    Francis 

passing  through  Borgo  San  Sepolcro,  a  consider- 
able crowd  soon  gathered  to  see  him.  A  thou- 
sand persons  touched  him,  pushed  him,  pulled 
him  in  every  manner;  he  was  insensible  to  all 
this;  like  an  inanimate  body,  he  saw  nothing, 
heard  nothing  of  what  was  going  on  around  him. 
The  travelers  were  already  far  from  the  town, 
the  crowd  had  disappeared,  when  Francis,  as  if  • 
descending  from  a  better  world,  inquired  of  his 
companions  whether  they  would  soon  reach 
Borgo  San  Sepolcro.    ' 

A  mystic,  an  idealist,  Francis  was  also  a  sym- 
bolist,— a  feature  of  his  character  which  may  be 
counted  as  one  of  the  factors  of  his  success. 

The  people  of  that  epoch  were  not  philosophers, 
but  rather  poets.  In  the  thirteenth  century  the 
simple  people  saw  nothing  simply  as  it  was; 
every   creature   was    the   symbol   of   something 


higher,  v  / 


The  imaginative  Francis  fully  shared  this 
characteristic  of  the  age ;  for  him  also,  all  outward 
things  had  an  inner  symbolic  meaning.  He 
understood  things  best  by  analogies  taken  from 
the  material  world.  The  poor  represented  to 
him  Christ  Himself;  to  rebuke  the  poor  was  to 
rebuke  Christ,  and  to  love  them  was  to  love 
Christ.    -The  doves  represented  purity,  and  he 


Characteristics  of   Mind  101 

would  protect  them  as  his  chaste  "  sisters."  He 
could  not  see  a  Iamb  without  thinking  of  the 
meekness  and  obedience  of  Christ.  On  his 
way  to  the  Sultan's  camp,  meeting  two  sheep, 
he  said  immediately  to  his  companion:  "My 
brother,  trust  in  the  Lord.  The  word  of  the 
Gospel  is  realized  in  us:  Behold,  I  send  you 
forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves."  He  would 
pick  up  carefully  the  letters  which  he  found  on 
the  road,  because  he  said  they  may  form  the 
name  of  Jesus.*  It  was  also  by  symbols  that 
Francis  spoke  to  those  around  him,  taught  his 
novices  and  exercised  his  influence  on  the  crowds. 
When  he  divested  himself  of  his  clothes  before 
his  father  and  the  crowd  which  assisted  at  the 
judgment,  this  symbolic  action  made  a  deeper 
impression  than  a  long  discourse  would  have 
done. 2  When  he  ordered  a  brother  to  put  a 
rope  around  his  neck,  and  drag  him  half-naked 
to  the  place  where  criminals  were  executed,  and 
to  step  on  his  prostrate  form,  he  moved  the  people 
around  him  to  compunction  and  to  tears.' 
Another  time,  seeing  Brother  Elia  wearing  a 
habit  of  a  finer  material  than  was  the  custom 

1 1  Cel.,  80-82. 

«I  Cel.,  15;  II  CeL,  I,  7.    3  Soc.,19,  20.     Bon.,  20 

» Bon.,  73. 


102  Character  of  St.  Francis 

in  the  order,  he  asked  him  to  lend  him  this  habit. 
Elia  did  not  dare  to  refuse,  and  gave  it  to  him. 
Francis  put  it  on,  adjusted  it  carefully,  and  then 
walked  around  the  room  like  a  lord.  Looking 
down  on  the  brothers  who  were  there,  he  said 
with  a  majestic  air,  "  God  have  you  in  His  keep- 
ing, my  good  people;"  then  suddenly  taking  on  a 
serious  air,  he  threw  off  this  habit,  and  said  to 
Elia,  "That  is  how  the  false  brothers  of  our 
order  walk."  Then  resuming  his  humble  and 
natural  gait,  "This,"  he  said,  "is  how  the  real 
Friars  Minor  walk."i 

We  may  well  imagine  how  this  symboHc  way 
of  acting  and  speaking  impressed  a  people  already 
inclined  to  see  in  everything  the  image  and  symbol 
of  a  great  duty,  of  an  important  truth,  of  a  super- 
natural fact.  They  had  found  in  Francis  a 
leader  who  thought  Hke  them,  who  understood 
them,  and  whom  they  understood.  Not  only 
did  he  put  before  their  eyes  an  ideal  which  satis- 
fied their  longings  and  their  best  aspirations, 
but  he  presented  this  ideal  to  them  in  the  way 
most  calculated  to  make  a  deep  and  lasting  im- 
pression.« 

»  Speculum  Vitse,  181.  This  narrative  is  not  found 
in  the  early  legends  of  the  saint. 

2  Cf .  in  connection  with  this :  Symbolism  in  Francis- 
can Churches.     Ruskin:  "Mornings  in  Florence." 


CHAPTER  III.— ST.  FRANCIS  AS  A 
LEADER. 

1.  Confidence  in  His  Mission. 

2.  Personal  Influence. 

3.  Francis  as  an  Organizer. 

4.  The  Catholic  Reformer. 

1.  A  Fx\CT  which  can  not  fail  to  strike  the  read- 
-^^  ers  of  the  first  legends  of  St.  Francis, 
is  the  conidfilixjn  which  he  had  of  a  divine 
mission  confided  to  him,  and  the  consequent 
firmness  in  maintaining  the  ideal  by  which  he 
was  to  fulfil  that  mission  and  reform  the  Church 
of  Christ. 

Francis  beheved  in  the  frequent  and  direct 
intervention  of  God  in  the  affairs  of  this  world, 
and  had  an  unshaken  conviction  that  he  heard 
God  or  Christ  speak  to  him.  Since  the  appeal  of 
Our  Lord  in  the  church  of  Santo  Damiano  and 
the  subseqikent  revelation  that  the  words,  *' Go 
and  repair  my  house,"  apphed  to  the  house  of 
Christ,'  Francis  felt  that  he  was  charged  with  a 

1  Bon.,  15,  16. 


104  Character  of  St.  Francis 

great  mission;  that  he  had  been  chosen  from  all 
others  to  reform  the  world.  God  sent  him  his 
first  companions,  and  traced  for  the  growing 
community  their  mode  of  Hfe  and  activity.  He 
said  in  his  testament :  "  When  the  Lord  had  given 
me  the  care  of  my  brothers,  no  one  showed  me 
what  I  should  do, — but  the  Most  High  Himself 
revealed  to  me  that  I  should  live  according  to 
the  form  of  the  holy  Gospel."' 

This  conviction  that  his  mission  came  from 
God  rendered  him  uncompromising.  He  would 
suffer  no  half  measures.  It  had  been  revealed 
to  him  that  he  and  his  companions  in  their  work 
of  reform  were  to  live  in  poverty,  and  he  would 
not  accept  a  candidate  who  had  not,  from  the 
first  moment,  sold  all  his  goods  and  given  his 
money  to  the  poor;^  nor  would  he  hear  of  a  house 
being  owned  by  the  brethren,  whatever  might 
be  the  extenuating  circumstances.  His  extreme 
severity  in  this  respect  can  be  accounted  for  only 
by  the  conviction  that  he  was  following  an  ideal 
assigned  by  God  Himself.  ^ 

Only  once,  when  he  gave  his  resignation  from 

'  Testamentum.  Cf.  the  text  in  Sabatier*s  Spec. 
Perf.,  pp.  309-313,  with  parallel  passages  from  the 
Speculum. 

2  Bon.,  90. 

3  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  6,  7. 


St.   Francis   as   a   Leader  105 

the  office  of  minister-general  of  the  order  at 
the  chapter  of  1220,  did  he  show  signs  of  dis- 
couragement in  the  work  which  God  had  con- 
fided to  him.  The  unfaithfulness  of  a  whole 
party  of  brothers  to  Francis's  ideal,  his  constant 
infirmities,  his  love  of  humihty  and  obedience, 
were  the  probable  causes  of  this  action.^  We 
may  say  also  that  the  desire  to  give  himself 
entirely  to  his  work  of  reform  urged  him  to 
resign  a  function  which  was  moreover  not  con- 
genial to  his  nature.  The  office  of  minister- 
general,  since  the  wonderful  development  of 
the  order,  had  become  too  absorbing.  It 
required  not  only  the  con-tinjual  presence  of  the 
minister  at  the  headquarters,  but  also  a  great 
deal  of  routine  work  and  constant  attention  to 
details  of  administration.  Such  a  Hfe,  aside  from 
being  di&tasteful  to  a  man  of  Francis's  fiery 
nature,  seemed  to  him  an  obstacle  to  the  mis- 
sion he  had  received  from  God.  The  call  he 
heard  in  the  church  of  Santo  Damiano,  "Go 
and  repair  my  house,"  was  still  ringing  in  his 
ears:  it  was  not  to  the  administrative  life  of  a 
ruler  that  God  had  destined  him,  but  to  the  life 
of  an  apostle. 

Though  he  was  in  this  frame  of  mind,  Francis 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  39,  41,  71. 


106    Character   of   St.  Francis 

did  not  abandon  the  direction  of  the  Franciscan 
movement.  Not  only  did  he  retain,  at  the 
request  of  his  brethren,  the  title  of  minister- 
general,  while  the  acting  minister  bore  the  name 
of  vicar-general  during  Francis's  life,  but  he  also 
continued  to  give  to  the  order  the  general  direc- 
tion and  proper  spirit,  leaving  to  his  vicar  the 
care  of  the  temporal  administration  and  of  the 
details  required  by  the  government  of  so  large 
a  number  of  men.* 

In  fact,  he  consecrated  his  first  leisure  time  to 
the  composition  of  the  rule.  The  circumstances 
which  attended  his  work  show  that  Francis 
beheved  more  firmly  than  ever  in  a  divine  mis- 
sion to  reform  the  world,  and  wished  to  maintain 
at  all  costs  the  ideal  which  he  had  received  from 
Heaven.  The  first  rule  or  rules  which  had 
governed  the  order  until  this  time  (1220)  had 
proved  insufficient.  *  Controversies  on  different 
points  had  arisen  during  his  trip  to  the  Orient 
and  had  created  difficulties.'  He  immediately 
set  to  work  to  correct  the  points  which  were 

1  Cf.  for  instance  Francis's  letter  to  Brother  Elia, 
published  in  Sabatier's  "Tractatus  de  Indulgentia," 
p.  113,  and  in  "Opusc.  S.  P.  Franc,"  p.  108. 

2  K.  Miiller:  "Die  Anfan.  des  Minor.,"  pp.  4-25. 

8  K.  Miiller:  op.  cit.,  p.  10  ft'.  Jord.  d.  Gian.,  in 
"Anal.  Franc,"  I,  pp.  4,  5,  nn.  11  15. 


(  UNIVERSITY 

V  OF 

St.   Francis   as   a   Leader    107 

liable  to  be  misinterpreted  and  to  render  any 
misconception  of  his  ideal  impossible. 

The  chapter  on  the  prohibitions  of  the  Gospel, 
** Nihil  tuleritis  in  via,"  had  been  particularly 
attacked  by  some  lax  religious, ^  and  one  of  the 
ministers,  after  Francis's  return,  asked  him  what 
was  the  exact  bearing  of  these  prohibitions. 
Francis  answered  firmly:  "The  sense  is  that  the 
brothers  must  have  nothing  except  a  tunic, 
with  a  cord  and  drawers  (femoralibus),  as  the 
rule  says;  and  in  case  of  necessity  they  may 
wear  shoes."  The  minister  wished  to  obtain 
permission  to  keep  a  few  books:  "I  will  not," 
answered  Francis,  "I  must  not  and  I  can  not 
permit  this  against  my  conscience  and  the  per- 
fection of  the  holy  Gospel  which  we  have 
embraced." 

Hearing  that  the  ministers  wished  to  have  the 
chapter, " Nihil  tuleritis, "removed  from  the  rule, 
he  cried  out  before  some  of  his  brethren:  "My 
brothers,  the  ministers  think  that  they  will 
deceive  the  Lord  and  myself;  but  in  order  that 
my  brothers  may  know  that  they  are  obliged  to 
observe  the  perfection  of  the  holy  Gospel,  I 
wish  that  in  the  beginning  and  in  the  end  of  the 
rule  it  should  be  written  th&t  the  brothers  are 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  3. 


108  Character  of  St.  Francis 

bound  to  observe  strictly  the  holy  Gospel  of 
Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  and,  that  my  brethren 
may  be  inexcusable,  I  have  always  proclaimed, 
and  I  now  proclaim,  the  things  which  the  Lord 
has  revealed  to  me,  and  which  are  necessary  for 
my  salvation  and  for  theirs,  and  I  will  show  them 
in  my  works,  with  the  help  of  the  Lord,  and 
observe  them  as  long  as  I  live."^ 

Later,  when  he  had  retired  to  a  mountain  with 
two  brothers  in  order  to  write  the  rule  that  was 
later  approved  by  Honorius  III,  some  ministers 
went  to  Brother  Elia,  who  was  then  vicar-general 
of  the  order,  and  asked  him  to  intervene  and  beg 
Francis  not  to  make  the  rule  too  difficult.  Elia 
finally  consented  to  go  with  them;  but  when  they 
reached  the  place  where  Francis  had  retired  and 
explained  to  him  their  request,  he  turned  towards 
heaven  and  said  to  Christ:  "Did  I  not  say  to 
Thee  that  they  would  not  beheve  me?"  Then, 
his  historians  tell  us,  they  all  heard  the  voice  of 
Christ  saying:  "Francis,  there  is  nothing  in  the 
rule  which  is  thine,  but  it  is  all  mine,  and  I  wish 
the  rule  to  be  observed  to  the  letter,  to  the  letter, 
without  gloss,  without  gloss,  without  gloss.  I 
know  of  what  human  infirmity  is  capable  and 
what   is    the  powe!"  of  my  assistance;  let  those 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  3. 


St.   Francis   as   a   Leader  109 

who  do  not  wish  to  observe  the  rule  leave  the 
order."  1 

Whether  or  npt  this  supernatural  intervention 
occurred,  the  fact  remains  that  Francis  did  not 
yield,  for  he  saw  in  the  rule  the  will  of  God  which 
he  was  commissioned  to  transmit  to  men. 

Honorius  III,  whom  Francis  requested  to 
approve  the  rule,  considered  some  parts  too  hard 
for  human  weakness,  and  advised  him  to  miti- 
gate or  change  some  demands,  and  to  sup- 
press others  entirely.  But  he  was  not  more  suc- 
cessful than  the  Cardinal  of  Santo  Paolo  and 
Innocent  III.  When  Francis  presented  for  the 
first  time  his  project  of  Hfe  and  work  to  Honorius, 
he  said:  "It  is  not  I,  most  blessed  Father,  who 
have  put  these  precepts  or  these  words  in  the 
rule,  but  Christ,  who  knows  better  than  anyone 
all  that  is  useful  and  necessary  for  the  salvation 
of  souls  and  of  the  brothers,  as  well  as  for  the 
well-being  and  preservation  of  this  order, — Christ, 
to  whom  all  things  which  will  happen  in  the 
Church  and  in  our  order  are  present  and  mani- 
fest; therefore  I  must  not  and  I  can  not  change 
or  suppress  altogether  the  words  of  Christ. ^'^ 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  1.    Cf.  also  study  on  this  chapter 
by  Sabatier  in  Spec.  Perf.,  p.  249. 
» Bon.,  56. 


110  Character  of  St.  Francis 

The  mission  which  he  had  received  was  a 
specific  one:  "I  do  not  want  you  to  name  to  me 
any  other  rule,"  he  said  to  his  brethren  in  a 
chapter:  "the  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  or  of  St. 
Augustine,  or  of  St.  Bernard,  or  any  other 
way  or  form  of  hfe  besides  that  which  has  been 
shown  and  given  to  me  by  the  merciful  Lord. 
The  Lord  has  told  me  that  He  wished  us  to  lead 
this  new  form  of  life."^ 

The  rule  might  not  be  changed  any  more  than 
the  Gospel  itself:  God  was  the  author  of  it, 
Francis  was  only  the  instrument.  Let  the  relig- 
ious, the  ministers,  the  Pope  himself,  attempt  to 
mitigate  it, — they  are  bound  to  fail.  "Woe  to 
those  brothers  who  oppose  me  in  what  I  know 
firmly  to  be  the  will  of  God."^  This  question, 
thus  raised  against  Francis  himself  during  his 
lifetime,  caused  a  schism  in  the  community 
after  his  death,  and  led  to  most  distressing  con- 
sequences. Nothing  shook  the  determination  of 
Francis.  He  was  well  aware  of  the  difficulties 
which  the  rule  had  already  caused,  and  he  was 
aware  of  the  difficulties  which  it  would  cause,  since 
he  himself  had  predicted  the  events  which  were 
soon   to   take  place. ^    But  he  was  doing  that 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  68. 

2  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  11. 

8  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  72  and  81. 


St.  Francis   as   a  Leader    111 

which  he  believed  God  had  inspired  him  to  do. 
He  was  accompUshing  a  mission  received  from 
above,  and  he  remained  inflexible. 

He  remained  uncompromising  to  the  end,  and 
in  his  Testament,  which,  according  to  the  Bull  of 
Gregory  IX,  "Quo  elongati,"  he  dictated  only 
a  few  days  before  his  death,  he  recalled  again 
the  mission  which  he  had  received  from  the  Most 
High,  and  the  duty  of  all  to  follow  the  ideal 
which  God  had  revealed  to  him:  "And  to  my 
brothers,  clerics  and  laymen,  I  command  firmly 
in  the  name  of  obedience  not  to  put  any  glosses 
on  the  rule  or  on  these  words,  saying.  It  is  in  this 
way  that  they  should  be  understood;  but  as  the 
Lord  had  given  me  the  grace  to  speak  and  to 
write  simply  and  purely  the  rule  and  thes^words, 
so,  also,  purely  and  simply,  you  must  understand 
them  without  glosses  and  fulfil  them  in  holy 
observance  unto  the  end." 

These  words  had  the  authority  of  a  founder 
and  a  divine  legate.  To  add  still  further  to  the 
impression  caused  by  his  words,  he  ordered  some 
ashes  to  be  strewn  on  the  floor  of  his  cell,  and 
then,  taking  off  his  tunic  with  difficulty,  and 
assisted  by  his  brothers,  he  stretched  himself 
all  naked  on  the  floor;  after  a  few  moments  of 
profound   silence,   he   said   to  his   brethren:  "I 


112   Character   of  St.  Francis 

have  done  my  work;  may  Christ  teach  you  how 
to  do  yours."  1 

2y  The  emotional,  enthusiastic,  and  saintly 
Francis  was  the  idol  of  the  people.  He  thought 
like  them,  spoke  like  them,  acted  Hke  them;  he 
was  for  them  the  typical  Italian,  with  all  the 
characteristics,  the  spirit,  the  aspirations  of  the 
time..'  This  was  naturally  a  source  of  power  for 
Francis.  Few  men  of  the  time  possessed  sym- 
pathetic understanding  of  the  people,  combined 
with  energy  and  influence,  to  equal  Francis. 
Nothing  could  overcome  him.  His  power  was 
ithat  of  a  great  conviction  and  a  great  ideal: 
the  conviction  of  a  divine  mission,  the  ideal  of 
poverty.  Francis  beheved  he  had  seen  Our  Lord; 
he  had  received  a  mission  to  reform  the  world; 
and,  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  and 
greatness  of  the  task,  he  felt  that  he  was  speaking 
in  the  name  of  God,  or  rather  that  God  Himself 
was  speaking  through  him.  He  had  taken  from 
the  Gospel,  from  the  Divine  Word,  the  ideal  to 
which  he  had  consecrated  himself:  it  was  the 
ideal  of  Christ,  of  the  Apostles;  he  loved  it  pas- 
sionately, and  was  eager  to  see  it  admired  and 
loved  by  all  those  around  him.  In  a  religious 
and  ardent  mind  like  his,  such  a  conviction  and 
1 II  Cel.,  Ill,  139. 


St.    Francis    as    a    Leader  113 

such  an  ideal  were  an  extraordinary  power, — a 
power* which  no  human  conviction,  no  human 
ideal  could  ever  give ;  a  power  which  no  obstacle 
could  check,  and  no  heart  resist. 

In  view  of  these  circumstances,  then,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  success  accompanied  him  every- 
where. People  found  in  him  a  leader  who  felt 
that  he  had  a  message  to  give  to  the  world.  He 
was  in  striking  contrast  with  their  bishop,  whose 
sermons,  generally  cold  and  stiff,  came  from  the 
head,  rather  than  from  the  heart.  Francis  preached 
from  the  heart,  and  his  words  went  to  the  heart. 
There  was  nothing  formal,  nothing  official  about 
these  fervent  appeals,  made  anywhere  and  at 
any  time,  and  always  with  a  power  which  suffered 
no  resistance.  Once,  at  the  reiterated  request 
of  Cardinal  Ugolino,  he  consented  to  prepare 
and  preach  a  regular  sermon  before  the  Pope 
and  the  Roman  Court.  Francis,  having  ascended 
the  pulpit,  forgot  all  he  had  so  carefully  prepared, 
and  was  unable  to  say  a  word.  He  related  in  all 
simplicity  and  humility  to  the  Pope  and  car- 
dinals what  had  happened  to  him,  and  after  having 
invoked  the  Holy  Ghost,  spoke  so  eloquently  on 
a  new  subject  that  he  moved  all  hearts  and 
showed,  says  St.  Bonaventure,  "  That  it  was  not 
he,  bu  t  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  which  was  speaking. "  * 

'  I  Gel.,  72,  73.     S  Soc,  64.     Bon.,  178. 


114  Character  of  St.  Francis 

^  He  had  nothing  new  to  teach  men:  he  was 
convinced  that  God  had  sent  him  to  reform  the 
Churchj  not  to  announce  new  truths.  What  he 
presented  to  them  was  the  old  Christian  ideal 
which  men  had  forgotten,  or  rather  neglected. 
Faith  was  not  lacking  then,  and  it  was  enough  to 
appeal  to  their  hearts  to  produce  an  effect. 
Hearts  were  moved  at  the  very  sight  of  Francis: 
his  mission,  his  ideal,  his  holiness  were  written 
on  his  countenance.  Sometimes  the  inspiration 
did  not  come,  and  Francis  had  no  word  to  say 
when  people  assembled  to  hear  him.  On  such 
occasions  he  would  simply  bless  the  people,  and 
go.i  His  presence  alone  filled  everyone  with  love 
for  the  man  and  for  the  ideal  of  which  he  was 
the  perfect  expression.  But  when  to  his  external 
appearance  was  added  the  sweet  but  energetic 
sound  of  his  voice, =  expressing  in  fiery  words  the 
deeply  felt  truths,  the  hardest  hearts  melted  and 
were  bent  to  his  will. 

Nor  did  this  wonderful  power  of  Francis  stop 
at  the  conversion  of  men;  he  possessed  a  no  less 
wonderful  influence  over  those  who  entrusted 
themselves    to   his   care   and    training.     In    the 

^  I  Cel.,  72.     Cf.  also  sermon  to  Poor  Ladies  without 
speaking,  II  Cel.,  Ill,  134. 
■^  I  Cel.,  83. 


St.  Francis   as   a  Leader   115 

beginning  of  the  order  there  was  no  novitiate; 
the  candidates  were  immediately  received  into 
the  order,  and  then  began  active  work  in  the  field 
of  reform.  Brought  under  the  personal  influence 
of  Francis,  they  soon  shared  his  convictions, 
and  looked  upon  him  as  the  man  sent  by  the 
Almighty  to  reform  the  world.  They  accepted 
his  ideal  and  loved  Lady  Poverty  almost  as  much 
as  he  did.  A  few  words  from  liis  mouth  were 
sufficient  to  revive  in  them  their  early  enthusiasm 
when  it  had  waned.  He  said,  in  one  of  those 
few  bursts  of  eloquence  which  his  historians 
have  recorded:  "My  brethren,  we  have  promised 
great  things,  we  have  been  promised  greater 
things, — let  us  keep  our  promises,  let  us  sigh 
after  God's  promises.  Short  is  the  pleasure, 
the  punishment  is  eternal.  Small  is  the  suffer- 
ing, the  glory  will  be  infinite.  All  are  called,  few 
are  chosen.  To  each  one  it  shall  be  given  accord- 
ing to  his  works." 

If  discouragement  or  trouble  of  any  kind 
afflicted  one  of  hiss  brethren,  "All  the  clouds 
were  soon  dispelled  at  the  sound  of  his  fiery  elo- 
quence, and  all  hearts  became  again  serene."  ^ 

This  power  over  his  disciples  was  still  increased 
by  the  love  which  he  had  for  each  one  of  them, 

1 1  Cel.,  46. 


116    Character  of  St.  Francis 

and  by  the  readiness  with  which  he  discovered 
their  needs,  their  desires,  their  temptations,  and 
hastened  to  console  or  to  help  them.^  It  was  a 
power  which  men  did  not  try  to  shun,  but  to 
which  they  gladly  submitted,  because  it  was 
full  of  charity,  love  and  tenderness.  It  is 
scarcely  surprising  that  Renan  spoke  as  he  did: 
**Le  grand  mouvement  ombrien  du  treizieme 
siecle  .  .  .  est,  entre  tous  les  essais  de 
fondation  religieuse  celui  qui  ressemble  le  plus 
au  mouvement  galileen  .  .  .  Francois 
d' Assise  (est)  I'homme  du  monde  qui  par  son 
exquise  bonte,  sa  communion  delicate,  fine  et 
tendre  avec  la  vie  universelle,  a  le  plus  ressemble 
a  Jesus.  "2 

3.  The  splendid  organization  of  the  orders 
created  by  Francis,  particularly  of  the  first  and 
third  orders,  if  we  consider  it  in  connection  with 
its  historical  circumstances, cannot  fail  to  awaken 
a  feeling  of  wonder.  Compared  with  the  power- 
ful orders  which  had  been  the  glory  of  the  Church 
for  centuries,  the  organization  of  the  Franciscans 
still   excites    the   greatest    admiration.     In    the 

1 1  Gel.,  48-50;  II  Gel.,  II,  3,  11,  14,  18,  19. 

2  E.  Renan:  "Vie  de  Jesus,"  12th  edition,  Paris, 
1864,  p.  183.  Gf.  also  "St.  Paul,"  p.  569.  "Nouvelles 
etudes  religieuses,"  Paris,  1884,  pp.  334,335. 


St.  Francis   as   a  Leader   117 

first  order  the  institution  of  the  general  chapters 
for  government,  the  election  to  the  various 
offices  without  discrimination  for  or  against  mem- 
bers, whatsoever  may  have  been  their  origin  or 
their  class  before  joining  the  order,  are  worthy 
of  note.  Those  who  ruled  were  called  ministers 
by  Francis,  as  it  was  intended  that  they  should 
be  really  the  servants  of  all.  In  the  Third  Order, 
the  minister  and  members  of  the  directory 
received  their  appointment  and  authority  from 
the  members.  That  these  provisions  were  wise 
is  shown  in  the  actual  success  of  the  government 
of  the  body  in  each  country  of  Europe,  in  the 
victorious  resistance  offered  against  attacks 
coming  from  the  lords,  and  too  often  from  the 
clergy,  until  then  the  ruling  parties  of  the  world. » 
We  are  naturally  led  to  ask: To  whom  shall  we 
give  the  credit  of  this  extraordinary  organization, 
which  was  to  resist  the  storms  of  centuries.? 
Some  claim  that  Francis  was  not  only  a  bom 
leader    but     also     a    sagacious     administrator, 

^E.  Gebhart:  "L'ltalie  mystique,"  pp.  127,  213. 
A.  Hamack:  "Das  Monchtum,  seine  Ideale  und  seine 
Geschichte."  Eng.  ed.,  1895,  pp.  67-83.  A.  Cantono: 
"S.^rancesco  d'As.  e  la  democrazia  cristiana."  Gino 
Capponi:  "Storia  di  Firenze,"  p.  180.  P.  Mandonnet: 
"Les  Regies  et  le  Gouvernement  de  TOrdo  de  Poeni- 
tentia,"  Chap.  XL 


118   Character  of  St.  Francis 

almost  a  statesman ;  or,  at  least,  that  he  himself 
organized  the  Franciscan  orders  and  directed 
the  movement  in  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century. »  Others  have  attributed  to  the  Church 
the  organization  and  direction  of  these  orders, 
but  they  affirm  at  the  same  time  that  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Church  took  place  against  Francis's 
will,  thwarted  his  plans  of  reform,  and  largely 
impeded  the  beneficial  results  of  the  movement.  2 

The  truth  seems  to  be  between  these  extremes. 
Francis  did  not  possess  the  talent  of  organization; 
and,  when  he  reaUzed  the  need  of  organization, 
he  not  only  allowed,  but  even  begged,  the  Church 
to  supply  what  was  lacking  in  himself. 

Francis  was  indeed  a  leader  of  men  in  the  sense 
that  he  was  full  of  enthusiasm  and  had  the  power 
to  communicate  his  enthusiasm  to  others.  The 
wonderful  success  of  his  orders,  which  revolu- 
tionized a  large  part  of  Europe  in  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  is  proof  sufficient  of 
his  popular  power.  But  this  does  not  neces- 
sarily imply  power  of  organization.  The 
organizer  must  possess  a  clear  view  of  the  end 
to  be  attained,  of  its  relations,  resources  and 

1  Karl  Hase,  Fred.  Morin;  also  many  Catholic 
writers. 

2  Thode,  Sabatier,  and  most  Protestant  writers  after 
them. 


St.  Francis   as   a  Leader    119 

resistance,  the  adaptation  of  means ;  as  also  power 
of  execution,  keen  appreciation  of  the  circum- 
stances of  time  and  place,  and  good  judgment  of 
men  in  whom  to  trust.  The  leader  must  be  able 
not  only  to  convince,  to  infuse  his  enthusiasm  into 
others,  but  also  to  govern  them,  to  restrain 
them  when  over-confident,  to  incite  them  when 
relaxing,  to  maintain  order  and  discipline. 

Peter  the  Hermit  and  St.  Bernard  stirred  up 
the  people,  and  raised  an  enthusiasm  which  has 
perhaps  rarely  been  equaled;  but  they  lacked 
the  power  of  organization,  and  they  failed  in 
their  crusades.  Pierre  Waldo  was  an  enthusiast, 
but  the  movement  which  he  started  soon  degen- 
erated into  heresy  and  revolt;  he  lacked  the  prac- 
tical talent  to  discipline  men.  The  ardent  and 
stubborn  Luther  started  the  movement  of  the 
Reformation,  but  it  took  the  genius  of  Calvin 
to  give  it  some  theological  coherence  and  firmer 
organization. 

Francis  originated  a  great  movement,  and  filled  >/ 
with  enthusiasm  all  those  around  him.  But  he 
lacked  the  practical  talent  of  organization.  He 
was  the  originator  of  the  Franciscan  movement 
of  the  thirteenth  century;  but  the  Church  put 
order  and  discipline  into  the  movement,  and 
directed  it  in  its  mission.     Francis,  before  his 


120    Character  of   St.  Francis 

conversion,  was  only  a  clever  thirteenth-century 
merchant  and  a  pleasure-seeking  young  man.> 
His  reform  movement,  once  inaugurated,  was  to 
embrace  the  whole  world;  yet  he  was  conscious 
of  no  fear;  wise  in  temporal  affairs,  he  became 
foolish  in  God's  service.  It  is  true  "That  which 
appeareth  foolish  of  God  is  wiser  than  men,"2 
and  that  many  of  the  methods  of  Francis,  foolish 
in  our  eyes,  obtained  for  him  a  success  of  which, 
humanly  speaking,  they  gave  no  promise.  How- 
ever, judging  Francis  here  as  we  would  judge  any 
social  reformer,  we  must  incline  to  the  view  that 
he  did  not  possess  the  talent  of  organization, 
the  practical  sense  of  a  good  administrator. 

Before  going  to  Rome  to  apply  for  the  appro- 
bation of  the  Pope,  Francis  wrote  a  rule  for  his 
first  companions.  This  rule  is  lost;  but  we 
know  it  was  only  a  collection  of  Gospel  maxims 
and  counsels,  arranged  under  a  few  headings, 
and  supplemented  by  a  few  directions. ^  The 
idea  of  Francis  was  to  make  Christ  Himself  the 
rule:  Christ's  words  would  be  the  words  of  the 
rule,  which  thus  would  carry  in  itself  its  own 

'  I  Gel.,  2. 

2  1  Cor.  i. 

3 1  Gel.,  32.  Bon.,  34.  Gf.  Muller:  *'Die  Anfange 
des  Minoritenordens,"  I,  1.  Die  angeblich  erste 
Kegel,  pp.  4-14, 


St.   Francis   as   a   Leader  121 

sanction.  Yet  the  advisability  of  composing 
the  rule  of  Hfe  of  a  developing  community  from 
Gospel  texts,  which  are  generally  of  difficult 
interpretation,  is  not  beyond  question.  In  fact, 
in  his  subsequent  rules,  Francis  omitted  more 
and  more  the  quotations  from  the  Gospel  and 
reduced  the  evangehcal  maxims  to  more  precise 
formulas. 

As  soon  as  Francis  had  gathered  a  few  com- 
panions, he  sent  them  out  to  preach  penance 
and  peace.  No  one  knew  where  they  were  to 
go ;  they  were  sent  out  "  into  the  four  parts  of  the 
world."  Abandoning  themselves  to  luck,  or 
rather,  to  the  inspirations  of  God,  as  they 
believed,  they  traveled  without  any  fixed 
itinerary.  They  did  not,  and  should  not, 
trouble  themselves  about  food  or  shelter. 
Francis  had  said  to  each  one  of  them:  "My 
brother,  leave  all  cares  to  God;  He  will  provide 
for  your  needs." ^  He  had  appointed  to  them 
no  time  for  returning  from  their  apostolic  mis- 
sion. When  he  wished  to  see  them  again,  he 
prayed  to  God  that  He  might  inspire  them  with 
the  idea  of  coming  back  to  St.  Mary  of  the  Angels. 
There  was  indeed  faith,  but  scarcely  human 
prudence,  in  such  a  course  of  action.  2 

'  I  Cel,  29.     Bon.,  33. 
2 1  Cel.,  30.     Bon.,  33. 


122  Character  of   St.    Francis 

So  far  no  urgent  need  for  a  strong  organiza- 
tion had  been  felt.  The  Httle  company  counted 
only  a  few  members,  who  had  all  the  fervor  of 
youth,  and  if  trouble  or  discouragement  harassed 
any  one,  Francis  always  had  the  right  word 
and  the  right  remedy. 

But,  in  course  of  time,  the  number  of  his  fol- 
lowers increased;  they  became  popular,  and  new 
postulants  arrived  every  day.  Stronger  organi- 
zation was  necessary,  as  well  as  stronger  disci- 
pline. Francis  had  become  almost  unconsciously 
the  head  of  a  numerous  and  promiscuous  crowd. 
Lords  and  serfs,  merchants  and  craftsmen, 
brigands  and  saints,  poets  and  lawyers,  priests 
and  laymen,  beggars  and  chevaliers,  had  joined 
the  order  by  the  hundreds:  it  required  a  firm 
and  skilful  hand  to  govern  and  direct  such  an 
assemblage. 

I  Yet,  at  this  very  moment,  Frailcis  meditated 
fen  apostolic  mission  to  the  Orient.  His  enthu- 
siasm carried  the  day,  and  he  actually  left  for 
the  East.i  It  is  true  he  confided  the  government 
of  the  order  to  Pietro  di  Catania,  a  doctor  in 
law,  and  well  informed  in  this  branch. ^     But  it 

1 1  Cel.,  55.     Bon.,  129. 

2  Jord.  d.  Giano,  in  "An.  Franc,"  n.  11,  p.  4,  T. 
I.  Cf.  Saba  tier's  Spec.  Perf.,  p.  70,  note. 


St.    Francis   as   a   Leader    123 

seems  little  in  conformity  with  the  rules  of  human 
prudence  for  a  founder  to  abandon  his  order  to 
strange  hands  at  the  very  time  of  its  greatest 
development,  when  there  was  the  greatest  need 
to  give  to  the  young  company  the  proper  spirit 
and  the  proper  direction.  This  was  in  1213, 
four  years  after  the  foundation,  and  Francis  left 
then  for  a  distant  country,  hoping  perhaps  to 
meet  there  the  death  of  a  martyr. 

Contrary  winds  threw  the  ship  on  the  coast  of 
Illyria.  After  some  days'  delay,  Francis,  seeing 
that  there  was  no  hope  of  reaching  the  Orient, 
returned  to  Assisi.  But  again  the  love 
of  apostoHc  labors  and  the  desire  of  martyr- 
dom got  the  better  of  him,  and  he  departed  for 
Morocco.  He  did  not  go  beyond  Spain,  return- 
ing on  account  of  sickness.^ 

It  was  nearly  a  year  since  he  had  left  Santa 
Maria  degU  Angeh.  During  that  time,  and 
under  the  administration  of  Pietro  di  Catania,  a 
large  stone  house  had  been  erected  by  the  people 
of  Assisi  for  the  new  order.  Francis  was  deeply 
affected  by  an  action  which  marked  a  departure 
from  his  spirit  and  from  the  direction  which  he 
wished  to  give  the  new  order.  ^     It  seems  that  he 

1 1  Gel.,  56.     Bon.,  132.    Wadd.,  an.  1213,  n.  58. 
2  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  7. 


124  Character  of   St.    Francis 

should  have  profited  by  the  lesson  and  understood 
the  necessity  of  his  presence  and  of  his  immediate 
direction.  Yet,  soon  after  the  chapter  of  Pente- 
cost of  the  same  year  (1215)  he  departed  again, 
this  time  for  France.  When  he  reached  Florence, 
Cardinal  Ugolino,  who  understood  better  the 
needs  of  the  rising  order,  prevailed  upon  him  not 
to  leave  Italy  at  a  time  when  his  presence  was 
so  necessary.  Francis,  always  respectful  towards 
the  prelates  of  the  Church,  having  remained 
some  time  in  Florence  to  treat  with  the  cardinal 
concerning  the  interests  of  the  order,  finally 
returned  to  Assisi.^ 

New  disappointments  awaited  him  there, 
which  were  in  great  part  the  consequences  of 
faults  of  administration.  The  brothers  whom 
he  had  sent  to  the  four  corners  of  the  world, 
animated  with  the  same  enthusiasm  which 
filled  him,  were  now  returning  by  little  bands, 
disheartened.  Neither  they  nor  Francis  had 
foreseen  all  the  difficulties  of  a  mission  in  foreign 
countries:  being  ignorant  of  the , language,  they 
were  not  understood,  nor  could  they  understand; 
their  strange  manners  excited  not  edification,  but 
ridicule.  2     No  one  had  foreseen  that  the  source 

1 1  Gel.,  74,  75. 

2  3  Soc,  62.  Wadd.,  an.  1216,  n.  9.  Jord.  d.  Giano, 
in  "An.  Franc,"  T.  I,  n.  5,  p.  3. 


St.    Francis   as    a   Leader  125 

of  their  success  in  Italy,  simplicity,  poverty, 
childlike  manners,  might  be  a  cause  of  failure  in 
oth^r  countries,  when  not  adapted  to  the  changed 
circumstances.  The  missionaries  were  taken  for 
heretics,  as  they  had  not  even  letters  to  prove 
their  orthodoxy. 

Francis  understood  then  the  necessity  of  a 
strong  hand  to  guide  the  order,  and  recognized  his 
own  inabihty  to  discipHne  and  direct  it.  He  began 
to  think  there  were  too  many  Friars  Minor: 
"  Oh,  if  it  were  possible,"  he  said,  "  that  the 
world,  seeing  the  Brothers  only  very  seldom, 
should  wonder  at  their  Uttle  number." 

He  saw  in  a  dream  a  hen  which  tried  in  vain 
to  shelter  under  her  wings  her  too  numerous 
progeny,  and  immediately  applying  the  vision 
to  himself,  he  exclaimed:  "Therefore,  I  will 
go  and  confide  to  the  holy  Roman  Church  my 
little  chickens  (puUos  meos)  whom  I  can  no  longer 
protect."  1  In  compliance  with  his  request,  a 
Cardinal  Protector  was  appointed,  whose  office 
it  was,  according  to  Francis,  "  to  govern,  protect 
and  correct  the  order." ^ 

Perhaps  Francis  relied  too  much  on  the 
Cardinal  Protector  for  the  work  of  administra- 

1 II  Gel.,  I,  16.     3  Soc,  63. 
*  Testamentum. 


126  Character   of    St.    Francis 

tion. »  On  the  occasion  of  the  general  chapter 
in  1219,  reljring  on  the  goodness  of  divine 
Providence,  he  neglected  to  make  provision  for 
the  support  of  5,000  brothers  present. ^  Imme- 
diately thereafter,  Francis,  carried  away  by  his 
enthusiasm,  left  for  Egypt.  ^  It  was  a  fault 
which  he  soon  recognized.  The  rumor  spread 
in  Italy  that  Francis  was  dead :  it  was  the  signal 
for  disorder.  A  chapter  was  convoked  in  which, 
contrary  to  custom,  only  part  of  the  brethren 
participated.  They  decreed  some  changes  in 
the  rule,  particularly  the  introduction  of  fast- 
days,  which  was  contrary  to  Francis's  spirit. 
At  the  same  time.  Brother  Phihppo  had 
obtained  from  Rome  several  privileges  for  the 
Order  of  the  Poor  Ladies,  and  also  modifications 
in  their  rule,  all  of  which  was  against  the  spirit 
of  Francis.  Again,  Giovanni  di  Capella,  one  of 
the  first  companions  of  the  saint,  had  already 
taken  steps  to  found  a  new  order  in  which  the 
lepers  themselves  would  be  admitted,  and  the 
rule  had  been  presented  to  the  Pope  for  appro-, 
bation.* 

^I  Cel.,  74:  "Tamquam  unicus  matris  suae,  securus 
in  sinu  clementise  suae  dormiens  et  quiescens." 

2  Bon.,  52. 

3  Bon.,  129. 

*  Cf.  Mullen  "Die  Anfange  des  Minoritenordens," 
p.  63  ff. 


St.   Francis   as   a   Leader  127 

Francis  returned  to  Italy  and  endeavored  to 
suppress  the  innovations.  The  spirit  of  change 
had  crept  in,  however,  and  from  it  developed  a 
tendency  entirely  opposed  to  the  views  of 
Francis.  The  division  of  the  order  into  two 
branches,  the  Spirituals  and  the  Conventuals, 
traces  its  origin  here.  Francis  never  ceased  to 
protest  against  the  new  spirit,  but  he  was  not 
powerful  enough  to  hinder  it  from  spreading. 

After  his  return  from  Egypt  he  resigned 
as  minister-general,  and  appointed  Pietro  di 
Catania  to  fill  this  office.  Pietro  belonged  to 
the  first  disciples  of  Francis,  and  represented 
his  spirit  w^ell:  but  he  died  the  following  year 
(1221).  Francis  appointed  the  famous  Elia  di 
Cortona  minister-general.  He  was  greatly 
deceived  in  his  judgment  of  this  man,  who  lost 
no  time  in  opposing  St.  Francis's  ideal  and  modi- 
f  jring  the  work  of  the  order,  and  finally  gave  the 
scandal  of  revolt  and  apostasy.  ^ 

From  that  time  till  his  death,  in  1224|  Francis 
took  Uttle  share  in  the  administration  of  the 
order, 2  though  he  never  again  left  Italy.  He 
remained  chiefly  at  Santa  Maria    degli   Angeli, 

1  Ed.  Lempp:  "Frere  Elie  de  Cortone,"  Paris,  1901. 
*  Cf.  Letter  of  Francis  to  Elia  in  Saba  tier's  "Induig. 
de  Port.."  pp.  113,  121  ff. 


128  Character  of   St.   Francis 

and  continued  until  the  last  to  protest  against 
the  innovations  made.  The  situation  was  beyond 
his  control.  Not  even  the  vigorous  attempt 
made  in  his  Testament  to  recall  the  ideal  for 
which  the  order  had  come  into  existence,  availed 
to  prevent  the  crisis  that  came  soon  after  his 
death. 

It  is  said  the  curia  was  largely  responsible 
for  the  difficulties  which  arose  during  Francis's 
absence  in  1219.  Cardinal  Ugolino  had  been 
protector  of  the  order  for  some  time,  hence  he 
could  not  be  a  stranger  to  the  different  changes 
then  taking  place  in  the  first  order  and  in  the 
Order  of  the  Poor  Ladies.  We  know  in  fact  that 
he  was  to  a  certain  extent  responsible  for  these 
changes. '  It  is  probable  also  that,  after  the  death 
of  Pietro  di  Catania,  Cardinal  Ugolino  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  appointment  of  Brother 
Elia  as  vicar-general,  for  Francis  would  not 
have  taken  such  an  important  step  without  the 
advice  of  the  Cardinal  Protector;  we  know  also 
from  the  Cardinal's  own  words  that  when  Elia  was 
reappointed  after  Francis's  death,  it  was  through 
his  instrumentality.  So  it  would  be  unfair  to 
lay  all  the  blame  of  the  first  appointment  on 
Francis. 

'  Cf.  Sabatier's    Spec.  Perf.,    p.  cii  ff. 


St.   Francis   as   a   Leader    129 

The  ecclesiastical  advisers  and  protectors  of 
the  movement  may  have  committed  faults  as 
well  as  Francis.  Yet  we  must,  at  the  same  time, 
give  them  credit  for  what  they  did  in  favor  of 
the  Franciscan  movement.  Undoubtedly,  they 
had  in  this  movement  a  share  greater  than  is 
generally  supposed.  The  young  and  emotional 
Francis  had  awakened  enthusiasm  and  inau- 
gurated the  work;  but  the  representatives  of  the 
experience  and  the  old  traditional  wisdom  of 
the  Church,  in  which  reason,  cautious  and 
provident,  rather  than  imagination  and  youth, 
ruled,  lent  to  it  consistency  and  order. 

But  before  developing  this  thought,  we  may 
draw  a  few  conclusions  suggested  by  the  facts 
related  in  this  section. 

Francis  did  not  possess  talent  for  organization. 
It  was  no  easy  task  to  maintain  order  among  so 
many  men  and  to  direct  them  towards  such  a 
high  ideal  as  he  had  set  up  for  them.  The 
absence  of  the  quaU ties  which  would  have  been 
needed  in  such  circumstances,  appears  as  the 
natural  consequence  of  the  ideahstic,  mystic, 
emotional,  and  enthusiastic  character  of  Francis; 
the  talent  of  administration  required  reason 
rather  than  imagination,  reflection  and  prudence 
more  than  enthusiasm. 


130  Character  of   St.   Francis 

Francis  was  a  man  of  strong  faith.  He  relied 
for  success  not  on  human  methods,  but  exclu- 
sively on  Providence;  and  he  recommended  to 
his  disciples  not  to  care  for  the  morrow,  but  to 
trust  in  God.  The  supernatural  played  an 
important  part  in  St.  Francis's  life;  and  he  cer- 
tainly thought  that  faith,  love  of  Christ,  trust 
in  the  Creator  and  Provider  of  all,  availed  more 
than  any  efforts  of  men. 

Francis  could  not  see  the  logic  of  a  course 
combining  human  with  divine  wisdom.  An 
attempt  to  assure  through  human  means  the 
preservation  and  success  of  his  order,  would  have 
been,  in  his  eyes,  a  crime.  Keeping  this  in  mind, 
we  can  not  wonder  that  Francis  cared  little  for  a 
form  of  organization  which  would  have  made  his 
order  too  much  like  those  already  existing,  and 
that  he  had  recourse  to  it  by  necessity  and  not  by 
choice. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  it  is  largely  the 
contrast  with  older  orders,  the  simplicity  of  the 
first  Franciscans,  the  absence  of  all  formality, 
and  of  everything  having  a  tendency  to  attract 
respect  more  than  popularity,  which  explain  the 
earlier  success  of  the  movement.  But  this  very 
success  made  organization  necessary.  Without 
it,  there  was  no  possibility  of  keeping  within  the 


St.   Francis   as   a   Leader    131 

right  bounds,  and  directing,  a  large  number  of 
men,  and  a  stronger  hand  than  that  of  Francis 
became  a  necessity. 

Moreover,  Francis's  plan  of  reform  contem- 
plated mainly  the  reform  of  the  individual.  He 
aimed  at  the  individual,  and  only  through  the 
individual  at  society  and  the  Christian  Church. 
His  order,  as  he  intended  it,  was  simply  a  collec- 
tion of  men  carrying  into  practice  as  perfectly  as 
(possible  the  principles  of  the  Gospel.  Believing 
in  the  reform  of  the  individual  as  the  only  means 
of  reforming  society,  he  depended  on  the  influence 
of  man  on  man  to  obtain  the  end  in  view.  Hence, 
the  thought  of  an  order  acting  on  society  was  far 
from  his  mind.  He  saw  only  the  poor  Friar,  in 
his  poor  clothes  and  his  simplicity,  converting  the 
peasant  and  the  lord,  the  artisan  and  the  mer- 
chant, and  all  his  efforts  were  directed  to  the 
training  of  good  Friars.  Though  he  had  a  great 
personal  power  over  individuals,  when  they 
became  too  numerous,  and  personal  influence 
on  them  became  impossible,  diflSculties  arose. 
Then  the  need  of  organization  was  felt.  Organ- 
ization was  not  a  part  of  Francis's  ideal,  nor  of 
his  plans  for  the  reform  of  the  Christian  world. 
The  Church,  at  the  demand  of  Francis,  intervened 
and  brought  to  the  movement  order  and  method. 


132  Character  of   St.    Francis 

and  thus  insured  the  success  of  the  Franciscan 
movement. 

4.  It  would  be  beside  the  present  purpose  to 
go  at  length  into  the  question  of  the  relations 
between  Francis  and  the  Church.  The  works 
of  Sabatier  and  Thode^  have  given  rise  to  an 
immense  amount  of  literature  on  this  subject.' 
A  short  review  of  these  relations  will  demon- 
strate two  points  connected  with  the  character  of 
Francis  as  a  reformer:  that  Francis  was  before 
all  a  most  devoted  son  of  the  Cathohc  Church; 
and  that  the  Church  supplied  largely,  in  the 
Franciscan  movement,  what  Francis  lacked — 
method  and  system. 

Francis,  educated  by  a  Catholic  mother  in 
the  very  center  of  CathoHcism,  remained  all  his 

1  P.  Sabatier:  *'Vie  deSt.Fran9oisd'Assise,"  "Spec- 
ulum Perfectionis,"  etc.  .  .  .  H.  Thode:  "Franz 
von  Assisi  und  die  Anf ange  der  Kunst  der  Renaissance 
in  Italien,"  Berlin,  1885. 

2  Cf.  for  example:  "St.  Fran9ois  et  I'Eglise'*  in 
•'Rev.  des  Quest.  Hist.,"  Vol.  57,  pp.  210-229.  "St. 
Fran9ois  d'Assise  d'apres  son  dernier  historien**  in 
*'Vingtieme  Siecle,'*  1894,  p.  53,  with  answer  by 
Sabatier  in  same.  R.  Mariano:  "Francesco  d'Assisi, 
e  alcuni  dei  suoi  pi&  recenti  biografi."  X.  "Le  relazi- 
oni  con  la  Chiesa."  Fr.  Paschal  Robinson:  "The 
Real  St.  Francis,"  'The  teaching  of  St.  Francis  of 
Assisi  and  its  latest  interpreters,"  etc. 


St.   Francis   as   a   Leader  133 

life  a  most  faithful  subject  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
Any  impartial  reader  of  the  first  legends  of  the 
saint,  whether  written  by  the  Spirituals  or  by  the 
partisans  of  Brother  Eha,  will  find  at  every  step 
new  proofs  of  this  perfect  and  sincere  submission 
of  Francis  to  the  Church,  which  he  called  lovingly 
"his  Mother,"^  and  to  her  ministers, in  whom  he 
saw  the  representatives  of  God  on  earth.  2 

Before  he  embraced  the  apostolic  life  he  made 
a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  the  center  of  CathoHcism, 
and  there  bestowed  a  generous  offering  on  the 
tomb  of  the  Apostles.  It  was  in  Rome,  too,  that 
he  put  on  for  the  first  time  the  habit  of  a  beggar 
and  took  his  place  among  the  poor  that  crowded 
the  porch  of  St.  Peter's  to  sohcit  the  alms  of  the 
pilgrims.  On  his  return  to  Assisi  it  was  to  the 
bishop  that  he  confided  the  inspirations  which 
he  had  received  from  God  and  his  plans  for  the 
Future.  3 

As  soon  as  he  had  gathered  a  few  companions, 
he  said  to  them :  "  I  see,  my  brethren,  that  God 
in  His  mercy  wishes  to  increase  our  company. 
Lrct  us  therefore  go  to  our  Mother,  the  holy 
Koman  Church,  and  announce  to  the  Sovereign 

1  3  Soc.,  46.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  78. 

2  Testamentum.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap. 10,  55. 
» 3  Soc.,  35. 


134  Character  of   St.   Francis 

Pontiff  what  the  Lord  has  begun  to  do  through 
us,  that  we  may  achieve  what  we  have  under- 
taken according  to  His  will  and  by  His  com- 
mand."* This  step  was  the  more  remarkable, 
I  as  there  was  then  no  law  obliging  the  religious 
orders  to  solicit  a  formal  approbation  from  Rome. 

During  all  his  life,  Francis  never  took  any 
important  step  in  his  reform  movement  without 
first  asking  the  approval  of  the  Church.  When 
he  wished  to  sail  for  Egypt  he  first  went  to  Rome 
and  begged  Innocent  III  to  bless  his  enterprise.  ^ 
He  humbly  submitted  to  the  counsels  of  Cardinal 
Ugolino  when  the  latter  opposed  his  trip  to 
France;  and  it  was  in  order  to  practise  better 
this  absolute  submission  to  the  Church,  that  he 
asked  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  to  appoint  a  protec- 
tor of  the  order  who  would  represent  the  Church. 

He  frequently  recommended  submission  not 
only  to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  and  the  Cardinal 
Protector  of  the  order,  but  also  to  all  bishops 
and  priests.  His  brethren  were  obliged  to  ask 
the  approval  of  the  ordinary  of  any  place  where 
they  were  about  to  establish  a  convent,  or  to 
preach.  8    Their  object  was  to  assLpt  the  clergy 

1  3  Soc,  46. 

•'  Wadd.,  an.  1212,  n.  35. 

» Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  10,  50. 


St.   Francis   as   a   Leader    135 

in  their  work,  but  this  they  were  to  do  in  all 
humility.^  They  should  respect  even  the  poorest 
priests  as  their  masters. 2 

In  his  definitive  rule  he  recommended  to  them 
that  they  should  always  be  "submissive  and 
subject  to  the  holy  Roman  Church,  prostrate 
at  her  feet,  and  steadfast  in  the  Catholic 
faith."3 

Nor  did  this  love  of  Francis  for  the  Church 
and  her  ministers  ever  decrease,  for,  a  few  days 
before  his  death  he  wrote  in  his  Testament: 
*'The  Lord  gave  me,  and  gives  me,  on  account 
of  their  order,  so  great  a  faith  in  priests  who 
live  according  to  the  rules  of  the  holy  Roman 
Church,  that,  even  if  they  persecuted  me,  I  would 
have  recourse  to  them  .  .  .  however  poor 
they  may  be,  I  would  not  preach  against  their 
will.  I  wish  to  fear,  love,  and  honor  them,  and 
all  others  as  my  lords,  and  1  will  not  consider 
sin  in  them,  because  I  see  in  them  the  Son  of  God 
and  because  they  are  my  masters.     .     .     ."« 

Sentiments  more  Catholic  could  not  be 
expressed,  and  to  pretend  to  see  in  Francis  any- 

»  Spec.  Perf.^  Cap.  54. 

2  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  10. 

3  Regula  2a,  Cap.  xii. 
*  Testamentum. 


136  Character  of   St.   Francis 

thing  but  a  most  strictly  Catholic  reformer  would 
be  a  gross  historical  error.  Francis's  language 
and  conduct  in  this  respect  can  not  leave  room 
for  the  slightest  doubt. 

Nor  is  this  conduct  a  mere  expression  of  the 
ideas  or  customs  of  the  time :  most  of  the  reform- 
ers in  St.  Francis's  time  acted  not  only  without 
the  approbation  of  the  Church,  but  in  direct 
opposition  to  her. 

f  The  Franciscan  reform  movement,  on  the 
contrary,  was  the  joint  work  of  Francis  and  the 
Church, — Francis  contributing  the  enthusiasm, 
the  Church  giving  method  and  order;  Francis 
offering  to  the  depraved  world  an  ideal,  the 
Church  reducing  this  ideal  to  practice. 

The  first  official  act  of  the  Church  in  connection 
with  the  movement  of  reform  contemplated  by 
Francis,  took  place  when  he  went  to  Rome 
with  his  first  companions  to  ask  the  approbation 
of  his  rule  and  his  enterprise.  The  hesitation 
of  Innocent  III  has  been  interpreted  by  most 
non-Catholic  historians  as  the  first  obstruction 
thrown  by  the  Church  in  the  way  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan movement.  Yet  his  hesitation  seems  not 
only  justified  by  the  circumstances,  but  suggested 
by  a  consummate  prudence,  and  later  develop- 
ments have  shown  how  wise  was  the  conduct 


St.   Francis   as   a   Leader    137 

of  the  Pontiff:  "My  sons," he  had  said  to  Francis 
and  his  companions,  "the  Hfe  which  you  wish 
to  lead  seems  to  be  very  hard  and  rigorous. 
Your  fervor,  I  know,  is  so  great  that  I  can  not 
doubt  your  perseverance.  But  we  must  also 
think  about  those  who  will  come  after  you,  and  we 
must  be  careful  not  to  impose  on  them  obhgations 
which  they  would  not  be  able  to  carry." »  It 
seems  as  if  the  experienced  Pontiff  had  foreseen 
the  troubles  which  were  to  arise  from  the  diffi- 
culties of  Francis's  ideal  and  rule,  and  we  can 
only  admire  his  wisdom,  if,  delaying  to  a  further 
time  the  official  approval  of  the  order,  he  wished 
to  see  first  how  this  ideal  would  work  in  practice. 
The  Cardinal  of  Santo  Paolo  assisted  Francis 
in  these  first  negotiations,  and  gave  him  important 
advice  concerning  the  direction  of  the  order. 
Later,  this  counsel  was  given  by  Cardinal  Ugolino 
at  the  demand  of  Francis.  "  Without  the  Cardinal 
of  Santo  Paolo,"  says  the  Abbe  Le  Monnier,^  "  the 
order  of  the  Friars  Minor  would  perhaps  never  have 
come  into  existence;  but  undoubtedly,  it  would 
never  have  developed  and  would  have  hardly 
subsisted  without  Cardinal  Ugolino." 

1  3  Soc,  49. 

2  "Vie  de  St.  Fran9ois  d'Assise,"  Paris,  1890,  Vol. 
I,  p.  339. 


138  Character  of   St.    Francis 

The  Cardinal  acted  wisely  in  opposing 
Francis's  trip  to  France  at  a  time  when  his 
presence  was  so  much  needed  at  headquarters. 

Again,  the  Protector  of  the  order  was  present 
at  the  chapter  of  the  Mats,  in  1219,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  deliberations.  The  brethren 
sent  to  foreign  countries  had,  as  we  have  seen, 
failed  in  their  efforts.  He  obtained  for  them 
from  the  Pope  official  letters  addressed  "To  the 
Archbishops,  Bishops,  Abbots,  Deans,  Arch- 
deacons, and  other  ecclesiastical  Superiors,"  to  all 
of  whom  the  brethren  were  recommended  as  good 
Catholics,  and  members  of  an  order  approved 
by  the  Church.  By  this  means  many  misunder- 
standings were  avoided  which  had  been  the 
greatest  cause  of  failure  until  then.^ 

At  the  chapter  of  St.  Michael,.the  next  year,  a 
Papal  brief  was  read  enjoining  on  all  the  guard- 
ians of  the  order  not  to  admit  any  one  to  pro- 
fession until  after  one  year's  probation; 
and,  after  profession,  no  one  was  allowed  to 
leave  the  order.  This  was  a  wise  precaution, 
as,  until  then,  all  sorts  of  characters  had  been 
received  into  the  order,  with  Httle  or  no  proba- 
tion,— a  process  which  in  the  beginning  had  been 
successful,  thanks  to  the  personal  influence  of 

1  BuUar.  Francisc,  T.  I,  p.  2. 


St.   Francis   as   a   Leader    139 

Francis  and  the  fervor  of  the  little  band  whose 
life  was  a  continual  novitiate.  But  the  increase 
of  the  order  demanded  a  more  careful  selection 
and  preparation  of  subjects,  and  the  measure 
enjoining  this  came  from  Rome  most  likely  on 
Ugolino's  suggestion.* 

That  Cardinal  Ugolino  had  also  an  important 
share  in  the  preparation  and  approbation  of  the 
definitive  rule,  we  know  from  his  own  words  in 
the  Bull  "  Quo  elongati,"  which  he  wrote  when 
Pope  under  the  name  of  Gregory  IX.  ^ 

But  if  it  is  through  the  Third  Order  that  the 
Franciscan  reform  movement  became  popular, 
and  produced  its  most  practical  results,  it  is 
also  there  that  we  see  most  clearly  the  influence 
of  the  Church.  Until  lately,  the  origin  of  the 
Third  Order  was  almost  unknown.  The  first 
biographers  of  the  saint,  who  mention  its  exist- 
ence only  incidentally,  did  not  offer  any  precise 
information  on  its  origin.  The  rule  printed 
among  the  works  of  St.  Francis  was  evidently 
not  the  original  one,  but  was  the  rule  approved 
by  Nicholas  IV  in  1289.3 

1  Bullar.  Francisc,  T.  I,  pp.  19,  27. 

2  Cf.  Sabatier's  "Spec.  Perf.,"  p.  314. 

3  P.  Mandonnet:  "Les  origines  de  TOrdre  de 
Poenitentia,"  "Les  Regies  et  le  Reglement  de  I'Grdre 
de  Poenitentia."  P.  Sabatier:  "Regula  Antiqua 
Fratrum  et  Sororum  de  Poenitentia." 


140    Character  of    St.    Francis 

In  the  "Liber  de  Laudibus  Beati  Francisci," 
written  by  Bernardo  da  Bessa,  companion  or 
secretary  of  St.  Bonaventure,  and  edited  for  the 
first  time  in  1897,  we  read  the  following,  which 
shows  well  the  share  of  Ugolino  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Third  Order,  and  needs  no  commen- 
tary: *'In  the  composing  of  the  rules  and  form  of 
life  of  these  (Brothers  of  the  Third  Order),  the 
Lord  Pope  Gregory  of  holy  memory,  then  con- 
stituted in  a  lower  dignity  (when  cardinal)  and 
bound  by  ties  of  intimate  friendship  with  Blessed 
Francis,  supplied  devoutly  what  the  holy  man 
lacked  in  the  science  of  redaction."^ 

Again,  in  the  history  of  the  Third  Order  by 
Mariano  di  Fiorenza^  (who  belongs,  it  is  true,  to 
the  sixteenth  century,  but  who  had,  according  to  P. 
Sabatier,  the  advantage  of  working  on  docu- 
ments which  have  not  come  down  to  us),  we  find 
this  testimony,  which  confirms  the  information 
given  by  Bernardo  da  Bessa:  "After  having 
prayed  and  being  filled  with  the  divine  spirit, 
assisted  by  the  counsels  and  help  of  the  Lord 
Cardinal  Ugolino,  Cardinal  of  Ostia,  who  was 

1  Bern.  d.  Bessa:  "Liber  de  Laudibus  S.  Francisci," 
curante  P.  Hilarino  a  Lucerna,  Romse,  1897,  Cap.  vii, 
p.  75. 

2  In  P.  Sabatier's  *'Tractatus  de  Indulg.  Port.^ 
Paris,  1900,  pp.  137-163. 


St.   Francis   as   a   Leader    141 

later  Pope  Gregory  IX,  he  (Francis)  com- 
posed and  wrote  a  short  form  of  life  (for  the 
Third  Order)  in  fourteen  chapters.  ^  .  .  St. 
Francis  remained  with  the  Cardinal  for  the  com- 
position of  this  rule  and  told  him  what  the 
spirit  suggested  to  him,  and  the  Cardinal  wrote 
with  his  own  hands  and  added  a  few  things. "' 
These  words  tell  us  what  were  the  respective 
roles  of  the  Church  and  of  Francis  in  the  creation 
of  the  Third  Order,  and  in  the  reform  movement 
which  followed.  When  Pope  Gregory  IX  pro- 
tected the  serfs  against  their  lords  by  declaring 
the  members  of  the  Third  Order  free  from  oath 
and  military  service  and  entitled  to  all  the 
privileges  of  reHgious,^  he  was  only  carrying  out 
a  poHcy  which  he  had  carefully  laid  out  with 
his  friend  Francis;  the  latter  suggested,  while  he 
himself  tested,  corrected  and  approved,  and  we 
may  well  believe  the  historian  of  St.  Francis 
when  he  wrote:  "Beatus  pater  (Franciscus) 
necessaria  providebat,  sed  feUx  Dominus  (Cardi- 
nalis)  ilia  provisa  effectui  mancipabat."* 

1  On  number  of  chapters  cf.  P.   Mandonnet:  **Les 
regies,  etc.     .     .     .,"  p.  230  ff. 

2  P.  Sabatier:  "Tractat.  de  Ind.,*'  p.  161. 

3  Biillar.  Franc,  pp.  30,  65. 
*  I  Gel,  74. 


PART  ni 

THE  IDEAS  OF  ST.  FRANCIS  ON  SOCIAL 

REFORM 


CHAPTER  I.— COMPREHENSIVE 
REFORM. 

THE  success  of  Francis  as  a  social  reformer 
is  largely  accounted  for  by  his  personality. 
He  was  admired  and  loved  by  the  people  among 
whom  he  lived  and  worked :  they  saw  in  him  the 
true  Italian,  as  well  as  the  saint;  his  emotional, 
ideaUstic,  and  mystic  nature  captivated  them; 
they  beheved  in  the  mission  which  he  had 
received  from  Heaven  and  which  he  accomplished 
with  so  much  conviction  and  enthusiasm,  but 
also  with  so  much  simplicity  and  love. 

Yet,  however  popular  the  reformer  may  have 
been,  his  success  would  have  been  of  short  dura- 
tion had  not  his  reform  ideas  been  acceptable. 
The  need  of  a  reform  and  the  striving  for  an  ideal 
of  reform  could  not  be  satisfied  with  empty 
words  of  enthusiasm  alone.  Eccentric  reformers 
were  abundant  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  they 
traveled  from  East  to  West  and  from  North  to 
South,  under  the  name  of  troubadours,  jongleurs, 
or  pilgrims,  denouncing  the  evils  of  society 
but    offering    no    hope;    history   has    not    even 


146    Francis  on  Social  Refor 


m 


recorded  their  names,  except  in  a  few  isolated 
cases.  Others,  prominent  among  whom  were 
the  Albigenses  and  the  Waldenses,  endeavored 
to  organize  movements.  But  the  people  of  the 
thirteenth  century  were  not  to  be  satisfied 
by  the  first  reform  proposed.  They  were 
young  and  enthusiastic,  it  is  true,  and  they 
seized  eagerly  any  project  which  might  give 
them  the  hope  of  a  reform;  but  they  were  quick 
to  discover  illusions.  Francis,  however,  brought 
r4hem  the  reform  which  satisfied  their  aspirations, 
and  which  was  accepted  not  only  by  the  Umbrian 
;  peasants,  but  b^all  classes  and  in  all  countries 
—of  Europe  as  well  as  in  Italy,  and  which  brought 
about  a  social  amelioration  that  lasted  as  long 
as  the  ideal  on  which  it  was  based  preserved  its 
original  purity  in  the  minds  and  conduct  of 
the  people. 

It  may  seem  strange  to  speak  of  Francis's 
social  ideas.  The  reformer  of  our  time  has  the 
advantage  of  definite  knowledge  of  social  facts, 
social  conditions,  social  evils,  and  partial  and 
supposed  remedies.  Social  processes  are  well 
understood,  and  the  real  nature  of  social  con- 
ditions is  recognized  in  a  manner  far  more 
objective  than  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Though 
St.  Francis  was  keenly  sensitive  to  the  misfor- 


Comprehensive  Reform    147 

tunes  which  he  witnessed,  he  had  little  social 
knowledge,  less  social  experience,  and  prac- 
tically no  understanding  of  the  ordinary  proc- 
esses of  life.  We  can  expect  in  him  no  complex 
reasoning,  no  formulation  of  far-reaching  laws, 
no  grasp  of  institutional  processes.  By  a  simple 
process  of  mind,  he  saw,  in  concrete  images,  God, 
the  soul,  the  Church,  the  devil,  sin;  no  other 
more  elaborate  plan  of  action  suggested  itself  to 
him.  He  made  a  simple  appeal  to  the  will  of  those 
who  did  not  live  up  to  the  standard  of  Christian 
hfe. 

Hence,  it  is  evident  that  we  may  not  expect  to 
find  anywhere  in  Francis's  writings  and  sayings, 
or  in  the  writings  of  those  who  knew  him  and 
heard  him,  any  exposition  of  his  views  on  reform. 
Still  less  can  we  say  that  Francis  had  no  particular 
social  principles  or  views;  his  whole  Hfe  and 
work  show  in  him  the  presence  of  well-anchored 
convictions;  the  ready  acceptance  of  Francis's 
reform  by  his  contemporaries  and  the  rejection 
of  all  others  show  that  there  were  in  his 
manner  of  reform  ideas  and  principles 
which  gave  to  it  a  solid  foundation.  A  brief 
study  of  his  work  reveals  an  interesting  and 
consistent  set  of  views,  probably  to  a  large 
extent  unconsciously  held  by  our  reformer.   We 


148    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

will  attempt  to  discover  these  principles  in  his 
actions,  in  the  practices  which  he  recommended, 
and  in  the  institutions  which  he  founded. 

The  reform  of  the  Christian  world  was  not 
the  sole  aim  of  Francis.  His  ambition  went  still 
further,  and  embraced  all  mankind;  heathens  as 
well  as  Christians*  were  to  feel  the  influence  of 
his  reform.  It  was  in  intention  an  international 
movement.  We  have  seen  Francis  travehng  not 
only  through  Italy,  but  through  Spain,  France, 
and  even  as  far  as  Egypt  and  Palestine; 
and  if  he  did  not  go  still  farther,  it  is 
because  he  was  prevented  from  so  doing 
by  his  infirmities  and  by  the  counsels  of 
Cardinal  U^olino,  the  Protector  of  the  order, 
whom  Francis  humbly  considered  as  his  superior. 
Unable  to  go  himself  and  preach  to  all  conversion 
and  reform,  he  sent  his  brethren  to  all  parts  of 
the  world. 

However,  he  wished  his  personal  influence  as 
well  to  reach  all  men.  Hence,  he  wrote  circular 
letters  and  caused  them  to  be  carried,  read, 
copied  and  distributed  by  his  brethren  and  others 
to  the  people  of  the  most  distant  regions.  We 
have  two  letters  of  Francis  addressed  to  "All 
Christians,  rehgious,  priests,  laymen  and  women, 
and  to  all  who  dwell  in  the  world."     "I,  being 


Comprehensive  Reform    149 

the  servant  of  all,"  he  says, in  the  second  of  these 
letters,  "am  bound  to  serve  all  and  to  minister 
k)  all  the  most  sweet  words  of  my  Lord.  Where- 
fore, considering  in  my  mind  that  on  account  of 
my  infirmities  and  the  weakness  of  my  body,  I 
can  not  visit  personally  each  one,  I  desire  by  this 
letter  to  announce  unto  you  the  words  of  my 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  eternal  Word  of 
the  Father,  and  also  the  words  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  are  spirit  and  Hfe."^ 

Besides  these  general  letters,  Francis  addressed 
others  to  those  who  could  have  a  greater  influence 
in  the  reform  which  he  contemplated,  or  who 
needed  special  advice. 

One  is  addressed  "To  my  Reverend  Masters, 
all  the  Clerics  of  the  whole  world,  who  live 
according  to  the  rules  of  the  Catholic  faith, 
Uttle  brother  Francis,  their  least  servant,  greet- 
ing with  all  reverence,  and  kissing  their  feet."* 

Another  he  addressed  "To  all  those  who  are 
in  authority,  to  counselors,  judges,  governors  in 
all  parts  of  the  world,  and  to  all  others  whom 
these  letters  may  reach." ^     To  all,  clerics  and 

1  "Opuscula  S.  P.  Franc."  Quaracchi,  1904,  Epist. 
la.     In  the  old  ed.  Ep.  la  et  2a. 

2  "Beat.  P.  Franc.  Ass.  Op."  Epist.  13a;  left  out  of 
the  Quaracchi  edition. 

3  "Opuscula  S.  P.  Franc."  Quaracchi,  1904, 
Epist.  4a. 


150    Francis  on  Social  Refor 


m 


faithful,  rulers  and  subjects,  he  gave  advice 
appropriate  to  their  position  and  their  oflGice.  , 
The  Franciscans  were  preeminently  the  apos- 
tles of  the  working  people.  Yet  we  must  be 
careful  not  to  Umit  their  influence  to  a  certain 
class  of  society.  The  Franciscans  came  from 
every  class  of  society  and  went  to  every  class 
of  society.  The  first  companion  of  Francis  was 
Bernardo,  one  of  the  rich  men  of  Assisi;*  his  sec- 
ond companion  was  a  canon  of  the  Church  ;2 
another,  Brother  Pacificus,  was  a  professional 
poet  and  "laureate  troubadour  of  Frederick  II;"^ 
Brother  Angelo  Tancredi  was  a  knight;*  Brother 
Giovanni,  a  farmer,  ^  e tc. ,  etc.  Their  field  of  action 
also  included  all  society — they  visited  not  only  far- 
mers and  townspeople,  but  also  the  clergy  and  the 
lords.  Like  the  troubadours,  they  went  to  the 
castles,  into  the  very  halls  where  the  lord  and 
his  guests  were  rejoicing  amidst  all  the  bright 
lights,  rich  ornaments,  sumptuous  furniture; 
there  the  Franciscans  felt  at  home  as  well  as  in 
the  hovels  of  the  poor;  there  they  preached  the 
word  of  God  and  reform,  and  often  with  wonder- 

1 1  Cel.,  24.     3  Soc,  27.    Bon.,  28. 

2  Wadd.,  an.  1209,  n.  9. 

3  Bon.,  50,  51.  * 
*  Wadd.,  an.  1210,  n.  3. 

^  Wadd.,  an.  1215,  n.  5. 


Comprehensive  Reform    151 

ful  success.  We  know  also  that  their  preferred 
waiting-places,  besides  the  lazar-houses,  were  the 
houses  of  the  priests,  "  poor  or  rich,  good  or 
wicked,"  and  that  they  swept  the  churches  and 
cared  for  the  altar  Hnen  and  everything  that 
was  used  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass.^ 

Their  simple  and  cheerful  way  was  successful 
with  all.  '*  Their  penetrating  words  went  to 
the  hearts  of  all,  young  and  old;  and  those  who 
heard  them,  lea\ang  father  and  mother  and  all 
they  possessed,  followed  the  brothers  and  took 
the  habit  of  the  order.  Not  only  the  men  were 
converted,  but  women,  virgins  and  widows, 
touched  by  the  preaching  of  the  brothers,  entered 
the  convents  which  had  been  built  for  them  in 
the  towns  and  villages.  In  the  same  way, 
married  women  and  men,  not  being  able  to 
dissolve  the  bond  of  marriage  which  united  them, 
subjected  themselves  in  their  own  houses  to  a 
life  of  penance  still  more  severe.  It  is  in  this 
way,"  add  the  Three  Companions, "  that  by  the 
Blessed  Francis,  the  perfect  worshipper  of  the 
Blessed  Trinity,  the  Church  of  God  was  restored 
through  the  three  orders  which  he  had  insti- 
tuted. "^     There  was  not  a  class  of  society  which 

1  3  Soc.,  59.  Bern,  da  Bessa:  *'Liberde  Laudibus,'* 
Cap.  2. 

'  3  Soc.,  60. 


152    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

could  not  find  in  one  of  these  three  orders  a  life 
of  perfection  appropriate  to  its  condition,  and 
to  the  fervor  of  the  individuals.  Priests,  knights, 
princes,  left  everything  and  joined  the  first  order. 
Virgins  and  widov^s  of  all  conditions  entered  the 
convents  of  the  Poor  Ladies.  But  the  vast 
majority  of  the  Christian  world  were  bound  by 
ties  and  duties  which  did  not  allow  them  to  give 
up  everything  and  embrace  the  life  of  a  Friar 
Minor  or  of  a  Poor  Lady.  Francis  understood 
it,  and  could  not  suffer  such  an  immense 
number  of  Christians  to  escape  his  influence. 
Hence  he  instituted  the  Third  Order,  into  which 
thousands  of  Christians  flocked  from  all  classes, 
from  all  conditions,  from  all  countries,  rich  and 
poor,  married  and  single,  artisans  and  farmers, 
merchants  and  princes. 

Francis's  object  in  his  reform  work  was  uni- 
versal. It  included  at  the  same  time  all  social 
aspects,  as  well  as  all  men.  Francis  was  neither 
a  politician  nor  an  economist;  yet  the  reform  of 
both  the  political  and  the  economic  orders  was 
within  the  bounds  of  his  zeal  and  ambition. 
It  was  an  integral  reform,  embracing  all  the 
activities  of  man.  Francis's  object  being  to  bring 
peace  and  happiness  to  all,  he  could  not  allow 
any  misery  to  be  unrelieved;  and  if  the  serfs 


Comprehensive  Reform    153 

suffered  under  the  political  domination  of  the 
lords,  if  the  lords  abused  the  power  which  the 
feudal  system  had  laid  in  their  hands,  if  the  poor 
were  oppressed  by  the  rich,  if  the  working 
classes  were  the  mere  tools  of  the  land-owners, 
Francis,  faithful  to  his  mission,  would  go  to  all, 
console,  encourage,  strengthen,  assist  all,  and 
communicate  to  all  his  joy  and  his  spirit. 

To  express  the  same  thought  in  a  way  which 
was  perhaps  nearer  to  Francis's  own  conception, 
his  object  was  to  reform  not  only  all  men,  but  the  , 
entire  man.  We  distinguish  in  man  the  natural 
and  the  supernatural  element,  the  spiritual 
and  the  material.  Francis  had  no  philosophical 
view  of  these  distinctions.  He  saw  everything 
in  concrete  pictures,  and  his  view  of  the  soul  and 
body  was  most  concrete.  For  him  the  body  was 
a  cell  in  which  the  soul  Uved  like  a  hermit;  the 
body  was  a  servant  and  the  soul  the  master. » 
Yet  both  had  their  rights,  and  at  the  end  of  his 
life  Francis  reproached  himself  with  having  per- 
haps been  too  hard  on  liis  brother  the  body.  In 
his  reform,  the  material  part  of  man  had  a  share 
as  well  as  the  spiritual  and  supernatural  part.  ^ 
The  lepers  were  the  first  unfortunates  who 
received  Francis's  cares,  and  he  always  had  the 

*  II  Cel.,  Ill,  69.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  97. 


154    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

greatest  love  for  those  subject  to  physical  suffer- 
ing. In  all  his  rules  there  is  a  special  article  for 
the  care  of  sick  members.  ^  We  have  seen  all  he 
did  for  the  lepers  himself,  what  he  did  through 
his  brethren  and  the  members  of  the  Third  Order, 
and  we  know  how  he  loved  to  relieve  the  poor  in 
their  wants,  giving  to  one  the  alms  he  had  just 
received,  to  another  his  cloak, ^  or  the  only  New 
Testament  which  the  community  owned. ^ 

Brother  the  body  was  the  creature  of  God, 
and  as  such,  had  all  Francis's  sympathy.  Yet, 
in  his  mind,  it  was  always  subordinate  to  the 
higher  power  in  man, — the  soul.  God  had 
created  the  body  for  the  soul,  the  cell  for  the 
hermit,  the  servant  for  the  master.  Francis 
understood  instinctively,  or  rather  saw, — to  speak 
more  in  accordance  with  his  mystical  process  of 
mind, — the  dignity  of  the  human  soul.  Through 
the  body  he  tried  to  reach  the  soul.  The  body  was 
to  be  kept  in  subjection  or  nourished  according 
to  the  needs  of  the  soul.  When  he  blamed  his 
brethren    for   having   refused    an    alms    to    the 

1  Reg.  la,  Cap.  x;  Reg.  2a,  Cap.  vi;  Reg.  Stse. 
Clarse,  Cap.  viii  (this  rule  not  in  the  Quaracchi 
edition).    Reg.  Ant.  Tertii  Ordinis  (Sabatier),  Cap.  viii. 

2 II  Cel.,  Ill,  30-34.  Bon.,  108.  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap. 
29,  30,  31,  32,  33,  63. 

3 II  Cel.,  Ill,  35.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  38. 


Comprehensive  Reform    155 

brigands,  it  was  because  he  saw  in  the  alms  the 
first  step  toward  spiritual  reform:  "Go  and 
get  some  good  bread  and  good  wine  and  bring 
them  to  these  brigands.  Call  them,  *  Brother 
Brigands,  come  to  us,  for  we  are  all  brethren, 
and  we  bring  you  good  bread  and  good  wine.' 
Then  you  will  prepare  the  table  and  serve  them 
with  humility  and  cordiality.  After  the  meal 
you  will  announce  to  them  the  word  of  God, 
and  ask  them  to  promise  you  for  the  love  of  God 
not  to  strike  or  hurt  any  one.  On  account  of 
your  humihty  and  the  charity  you  will  show 
them,  they  will  immediately  promise  you."^ 

Yet  again,  Francis  subordinated  the  natural 
to  the  supernatural,  and  his  ultimate  end  was 
the  conversion  to  God  and  to  grace.  Speaking 
to  the  same  brethren  who  had  refused  an  alms 
to  the  brigands,  he  added:  "The  next  day  after 
having  obtained  their  promise  not  to  hurt  any 
one,  you  will  bring  them,  besides  the  bread  and 
the  wine,  some  cheese  and  some  eggs,  and  after 
having  served  them  at  the  meal,  you  w^ll  say  to 
them :  *  Why  do  you  stay  here  all  day,  dying  with 
hunger,  suffering,  doing  evil,*and  at  the  same  time 
losing  your  soul?     Why  not  be  converted?     It 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  66.  Actus  B.  Franc,  Cap.  29. 
Fioretti,  Cap.  26. 


156    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

is  better  to  serve  God,  and  besides  giving  you 
what  is  necessary  for  your  body,  He  will  save 
your  souls.' "i 

Francis  saw,  not  by  any  philosophical  process, 
but  by  intuition,  the  perfect  order  which 
must  exist  in  nature:  over  all,  God  and  the 
supernatural  world;  in  man  the  spiritual  part, 
and  subject  to  it,  the  material  part;  below  man 
all  creation  made  to  subserve  man's  wants  and 
to  bring  him  to  happiness  and  to  God.  He 
saw,  at  the  same  time,  that  no  reform  could  be 
thorough  unless  it  affected  man  in  all  his  rela- 
tions. Hence,  he  set  to  work  to  accomplish  a 
comprehensive  reform,  but  he  never  lost  sight  of 
the  respective  importance  of  these  relations. 
The  body-niu&t-rexoain  subject  to  the  .spuLaiid 
help  the  soul  to  reach  its  end;  and  if  physical 
sufferings  are  worthy  of  Francis's  sympathy  and 
cares,  he  also  intended  that  the  body  must  sufer 
sometimes  for  the  good  of  the  soul.  Francis  was 
the  first  to  give  the  example  of  bodily  mortifi- 
cation and  to  recommend  it  to  his  brethren.  In 
the  same  way  he  aimed  at  economic  and  political 
reform;  but  it  was  only  to  bring  peace  to  men, 
and  in  this  way  to  eliminate  the  elements  of 
enmity,  hatred,  revenge,  which  are  contrary  to 

»  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  66.   Act.,  Cap.  ^9.    Fior.,  Cap.  26. 


Comprehensive  Reform    157 

the  Christian  spirit  that  Christ  had  come  to 
instil  into  the  world,  and  which  Francis  had  now 
the  mission  to  renew. 

This  comprehensive  view  of  reform,  instinctive 
in  Francis,  is  well  worthy  of  our  attention.  It 
was  a  novelty  in  the  history  of  reform,  although 
not  new,  since  it  was  only  the  Gospel  view,which, 
in  fact,  Francis  simply  taught.  Other  rehgious 
orders  had  been  founded  for  special  and  limited 
purposes: — for  hospitals,  for  the  reform  of 
monastic  Hfe,  for  the  care  of  pilgrims,  for  the 
reform  of  the  clergy,  etc.;- — it  was  only  one 
particular  class  or  one  particular  aspect  of  man 
which  was  aimed  at.  The  Franciscan  ambition 
had  no  other  limits  than  those  of  the  created 
world;  it  aimed  at  retorming  all  men  and  every 
thing  in  man.  ■ 


CHAPTER  II.— RELIGIOUS  REFORM. 

T^RANCIS  regarded  the  supernatural  part  of 
-■■  man  as  predominant;  hence  he  placed  re- 
ligion at  the  basis  of  his  reform. 

It  was  through  religion  that  he  himself  became 
a  reformer:  from  the  world  to  God,  and  from 
God  to  reform.  His  mystic  soul  had  seen,  as 
in  a  vision,  the  little  troop  of  Christ's  followers 
and  the  Christian  Church  of  the  first  centuries, 
with  peace,  love,  and  happiness  reigning  among 
all  the  members.  It  was  the  same  religion  which 
men  professed  in  Francis's  time:  they  had  the 
same  head,  the  same  doctrines,  the  same  prac- 
tices; but  the  absence  of  peace,  love,  and  happi- 
ness in  the  Christianity  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
brought  it  into  sad  contrast  with  the  original 
Church.  Francis  had  these  two  pictures 
always  present  before  him:  the  original  and 
genuine  Christian,  the  degenerate  Christian  of 
his  time;  and  all  his  efforts  had  for  their  object 
the  restoration  of  the  spirit  and  life  of  the  first 
Christians.  He  believed  that  the  only  way  to 
accomplish  this  reform  was  to  bring  all  men  into 


Religious  Reform        159 

the  Church,  and  enable  them  to  remain  true 
to  its  teaching. 

^  The  conversion  of  souls  and  their  return  to 
pure  Christian  life  was  Francis's  work,  and  the 
means  adopted  were  largely  religious.  The 
Third  Order  was  before  all  a  religious  order,  and  a 
school  of  the  Christian  spirit  and  Christian  vir- 
tue. The  other  two  orders  aimed  essentially  at 
Christian  perfection.  Prayer  and  supernatural 
merit  were  to  avail  more  in  the  work  of  reform 
than  human  activity.  He  was  accustomed  to 
say  "that  his  poor,  humble,  and  simple  brothers, 
though  they  did  not  know  it,  converted  more 
men  by  their  prayers  and  their  tears  than  those 
who  expected  to  excite  the  admiration  of  the 
people  by  their  science  and  their  preaching."^ 

The  principles  of  reform  in  Francis's  mind 
were  drawn  from  the  Gospel,  and  the  teaching 
of  the  Church — Christian  charity.  Christian  pen- 
ance, and  with  all,  the  spirit  of  poverty.  Few 
modem  reformers  contemplate  a  complete  social 
reform  based  on  religion,  while  penance  and 
poverty  are  scarcely  thought  of. 

The  Apostles  had  reformed  the  world  by  the 
Gospel;  under  its  influence  the  family  was  regen- 
erated, labor  became  a  duty  and  an  honorable 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  72. 


160    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

occupation,  justice  replaced  oppression,  charity 
united  those  who  were  separated;  luxury,  cupidity, 
were  disgraced,  poverty  was  honored.  The  Chris- 
tian world  had  prospered  as  long  as  it  had 
adhered  to  these  principles,  and  it  had  degen- 
erated in  proportion  as  it  had  fallen  away  from 
them.  The  conclusion  was  evident  in  Francis's 
mind :  if  he  could  but  bring  the  Gospel  home  to 
the  people,  the  Christian  world  would  be  saved 
again. 

The  Gospel  recommends  peace,  charity,  pen- 
ance, self-sacrifice.  Not  a  few  of  our  modern 
reformers  begin  their  work  by  setting  at  war 
rich  and  poor,  capitalists  and  workingmen,  great 
and  small,  and  they  throw  before  the  eyes  of 
a  discontented  people  the  picture  of  a  future 
state  in  which  there  will  be  no  privation,  no 
sacrifice.  Francis,  on  the  contrary,  began  by 
preaching  peace:  "God  give  you  His  peace  I" 
This  was  his  constant  salutation  to  passers-by, 
as  well  as  the  introduction  to  all  his  sermons. 
,  This  peace,  to  his  mind,  was  the  first  condition 
of  social  reform.  Charity  must  follow  in  the 
wake  of  peace.  Our  Lord  had  brought 
peace  on  earth  to  men  of  good  will;  but  He 
wished  charity   to  be  the    characteristic  virtue 

» I  Gel.,  23.    3  Soc..  26. 


Religious  Reform  161 

of  those  who  embraced  the  Christian  ideal: 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  thy 
whole  heart,  and  with  thy  whole  soul  and  with 
thy  whole  mind.  This  is  the  greatest  and  first 
commandment.  And  the  second  is  like 
this:  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 
On  these  two  commandments  dependeth  the 
whole  law  and  the  prophets."^  Francis  depended 
on  these  two  principles  for  his  social  reform. 
He  spoke  as  St.  John  had  spoken:  "Love 
one  another,  my  dear  children."  The  world  was 
to  be  for  him,  like  for  F.  Denison  Maurice,  a 
great  family;  not  the  battle-field  of  "  individual 
competitors,  but  a  divine  family  expanding 
itself  into  a  divine  nation. "^  The  Christian  > 
rehgion  teaches  the  necessity  of  penance  and 
self-sacrifice;  Francis  taught  these  to  the  world. 
"I  have  never  consented  to  receive  all  that  I 
needed,"  said  Francis,  "lest  by  so  doing  I  might 
deprive  other  poor  of  what  is  necessary  to 
them. "3  Ordinarily,  reform  movements  will  insist 
on  rights  and  self-assertion,  neglecting  in  a 
measure,  if  not  totally,  reciprocal  duties.  St. 
Francis  inverted   this  order   by  insisting  upon 

1  Mat.  xxii,  37-40. 

'  "The  tracts  of  Christian  Socialism,"  1st  Tract, 
1840. 

'  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  12. 


162   Francis  on  Social  Reform 

duty  and  having  recourse  to  the  CathoHc 
doctrine  of  penance  and  sacrifice;  inculcating 
on  all,  rich  and  poor,  powerful  and  weak, 
the  necessity  and  advantages  of  a  generous 
Christian  disinterestedness,  he  struck  at  the 
heart  of  the  difficulty. 

He  advocated  the  literal  application  of  the 
Gospel  principles  in  his  own  Hfe  and  in  that  of 
his  brethren.  As  a  matter  of  perfection,  he 
wished  to  imitate  the  Gospel  as  perfectly  as 
possible:  the  "vende  omnia  .  .  .,"  "nihil 
tuleritis  in  via  .  .  .,"  "nolite  soUiciti  esse  in 
crastina  die  .  .  .,"  of  the  Gospel  were  for 
him  rules  of  conduct,  which  he  most  scrupulously 
observed  and  wished  to  be  observed  by  his 
brethren.  Christian  perfection  was  made  con- 
crete for  him  in  the  great  models — Christ  and 
the  Apostles.  He  also  wished  to  be  an  example 
to  the  world,  and  he  knew  that  this  example  would 
be  efficacious  in  proportion  to  the  resemblance 
which  he  and  his  companions  would  bear  to  the 
great  models  of  Cliristianity.  \The  spirit  of  the 
Middle  Ages  admitted  of  no  compromise,  par- 
ticularly in  the  matter  of  religion;  hence,  Francis 
merely  accommodated  himself  to  his  time  in 
imitating  as  literally  as  possible  the  life  of  Christ 
and  His  Apostles. 


Religious  Reform  163 

But, it  must  be  added,  that  as  regards  universal 
application,  Francis  did  not  advocate  the  same 
literal  understanding  of  the  Gospel.  In  fact,  he 
was  poorly  acquainted  with  the  letter  of  the 
Gospel,  and,  as  has  been  remarked  by  Mr.  Paul 
Sabatier,  his  quotations  from  the  Bible,  though 
abundant,  represent  rather  the  spirit  than  the 
text.i 

That  Francis  did  not  interpret  the  text  too 
literally,  we  see  from  the  following  incident: — 

A  doctor  of  the  order  of  the  Friars  Preachers 
came  to  him  to  ask  him  how  he  should  interpret 
this  text  from  Ezechiel:  "If  thou  declare  not  to 
the  wicked,  that  he  may  be  converted  from  his 
wicked  way,  and  Uve,  I  will  require  his  blood  at 
thy  hands."2  "For,"  he  added,  "good  Father, 
I  know  many  who  live  in  the  state  of  mortal 
sin,  whom  I  do  not  warn  of  their  sin; will  the  souls 
of  these  men  be  required  at  my  hands?"  Fran- 
cis, having  protested  that  he  was  ignorant  and 
needed  rather  to  be  taught  than  to  teach  the 
interpretation  of  Scriptures,  was  begged  again  to 
speak  his  mind  on  the  difficulty.  Finally  he 
said:  "If  these  words  are  to  be  understood  uni- 
versally, I  would  interpret  them  in  this  sense, 

»  P.  Sabatier's  **Spec.  Perf.,"  p.  xxix,  note'l. 
2  Ezech.  iii,  18, 


164   Francis  on  Social  Reform 

that  the  servant  of  God  must  be  so  ardent  in 
God's  service  and  so  resplendent  with  holiness 
that  all  sinners  may  find  in  his  very  life  and 
example  a  reproof  of  their  sins.  In  this  way  the 
splendor  of  his  life  and  the  odor  of  his  sanctity 
will  be  a  continual  warning  to  all  sinners."  The 
Dominican  left,  filled  with  admiration.  "Our 
theology,"  he  said,  "creeps  on  the  earth;  the 
theology  of  this  man,  resting  on  purity  and  con- 
templation, is  a  flying  eagle."* 

There  was  indeed  a  whole  treatise  of  Christian 
social  theology  in  these  few  words,  and  Francis's 
practice  was  not  short  of  his  theory.  Christ  had 
been  a  model  to  all  men,  and  by  the  splendor  of 
His  holiness  had  been  a  reproof  and  a  lesson  to 
sinners."  ]francis  wished  to  be  an  example  to 
his  brethren,  and  he  wished  them  to  be  examples 
to  the  world.     , 

The  sight  of  these  men,  some  coming  from  the 
highest  classes  of  society,  sacrificing  everything 
and  living  in  absolute  poverty,  could  not  fail  to 
make  a  strong  impression  on  the  rehgious  people 
of  Francis's  time.  The  peace  to  which  the 
Apostles  exhorted,  they  themselves  maintained 
in  their  lives.  "As  your  mouth  announces 
peace,"  said  Francis,  "so  let  this  peace  be  in 

1 II  Cel.,  Ill,  46.    Bon.,  153.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  53. 


Religious  Reform  165 

your  heart,  and  in  greater  abundance.  Let  no 
one  be  provoked  to  anger  or  scandalized  by  you ; 
but  let  all,  by  your  meekness,  be  incited  to  peace, 
kindness,  and  concord." ^  They  loved  one  another 
sincerely,  were  happy  in  one  another's  company. ^ 
The  penance  which  they  preached  they  first 
practised  themselves.  "The  Lord  has  granted 
me  first  to  do  penance,"  says  St.  Francis  in  his 
Testament;  the  first  name  of  the  followers  of  St. 
Francis  was  "  the  Penitents  from  Assisi."*  They 
did  more  than  they  required  from  others.  They 
observed  the  Gospel  counsels,  while,  from  other 
men  they  demanded  simply  the  observance  of 
the  precepts.  From  the  rich  they  demanded 
charity,  self-sacrifice,  and  condescension;  but  they 
themselves  had  first  of  all  given  the  best  proof 
of  their  charity,  self-sacrifice,  and  condescension 
in  distributing  their  goods  to  the  poor,  and 
embracing  voluntary  poverty.  From  the  poor 
they  demanded  patience,  respect  for  superiors, 
and  a  just  appreciation  of  the  conditions  in  which 
Providence  had  placed  them;  but  they  them- 
selves gave  the  best  example  not  only  of  patience 
under  the  privations  of  poverty,  but  of  heavenly 

1 1  CeL,  23.     3  Soc,  58. 

2  3  Soc.,  45.  V 

3  3  Soc,  37.  N 


166    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

joy  in  the  possession  of  a  virtue  which  they 
loved  more  truly  than  all  the  treasures  of  the 
world. 

To  make  this  spirit  of  sacrifice,  penance,  and 
patience  more  acceptable  and  even  dear  to  the 
people,  Francis  gave  it  a  concrete  form  and 
presented  it  to  them,  as  it  were,  summed  up  in  a 
beautiful  Christian  ideal,  the  object  of  all  his 
love  and  all  his  attention — Lady  Poverty.  What 
seems  to  our  modern  mind  an  anomaly,  was  then 
a  flash  of  genius.  ^  Francis  aimed  at  making  all 
men  poor.  He  wished  all  men  to  be  poor  in 
spirit;  not  only  poor,  but  happy.  "Blessed  are 
the  poor  in  spirit  .  .  ."The  spirit  of  the 
poverty  which  he  demanded  from  them,  and  to 
a  great  extent  obtained,  was  Christian, — on  the 
part  of  the  really  poor,  a  sincere  love  of  their 
condition  w^hich  rendered  them  more  like  their 
divine  Master;  on  the  part  of  the  rich,  the  detach- 
ment from  their  goods  and  a  tender  care  of  those 
whom  God's  providence  had  placed  on  a  lower 
level  in  the  social  scale,  but  who  were  their  equals 
and  often  their  superiors  before  God.V  "It  will 

1  However,  the  Franciscan  idea  of  poverty  was 
attacked  in  the  thirteenth  century,  v.  g.  by  William 
of  St.  Amour,  whom  Bonaventure  answered  by  his 
"Apology  of  the  poor." 


Religious  Reform         167 

remain  one  of  the  greatest  glories  of  St.  Francis, 
the  Toverello'  of  Assisi,  to  have  given  to  the 
world  the  true  Christian  notion  of  poverty,  so 
long  forgotten, — a  poverty  which  is  not  an  absti- 
nence, a  renouncement,  but  a  victory,  a  treas- 
ure. .  .  ."^  Not  only  is  it  easier  to  ascend 
to  heaven  from  a  hut  than  from  a  palace,  as 
Francis  used  to  say,  but  the  poor  in  spirit  give 
up  the  possession  of  things  external  and  tem- 
poral only  to  enter  into  possession  of  better  and 
higher  goods :  freedom  of  mind,  universal  brother- 
hood, possession  and  enjoyment,  internal  and 
mystical,  of  all  creatures  of  the  universe.  The 
rich  man,  bent  only  on  material  gains  and 
material  fortune,  possesses  and  enjoys  only  a 
few  lands  and  a  limited  amount  of  money,  and 
this  possession  and  enjoyment  are  continually 
marred  by  fear  of  loss  and  by  difficulties  of  all 
kinds:  on  the  contrary,  he  who  is  poor  in  spirit 
has  snatched  his  heart  from  such  petty  loves, 
and  now  possesses  God  and  enjoys  His  divine 
company;  he  possesses  all  the  universe,  and 
shares  in  the  common  concert  which  rises  from 
earth  to  heaven:  "Blessed  are  the  poor    .     .     ." 

1  P.  Saba  tier  in  the  "Conferenze  Dantesche,"  Vol. 
II,  "St.  Fran9ois  et  le  mouvement  religieux  au  treiz- 
ieme  siecle,*'  p.  143. 


168   Francis  on  Social  Reform 

Such  was  the  conception  of  poverty  in  Francis's 
mind;  it  was  the  Christian  view  of  poverty, 
though  perhaps  carried  to  an  ideaUsm  which 
does  not  strike  our  age  so  forcibly  as  it  did  the 
age  of  Francis,  but  which  was  then  in  perfect 
accord  with  the  better  thoughts,  spirit,  and 
aspirations  of  men. 

This  ideahzation  of  poverty  gives  us  the  clue 
to  what  might  appear  at  first  a  difficulty  in 
Francis's  plan  of  reform,  and  might  at  the  same 
time  indicate  a  lack  of  soundness  in  his  social 
principles.  We  allude  to  the  mendicancy  among 
the  Franciscans,  who  were  one  of  the  first 
mendicant  orders.  A  social  reform  which 
encourages  and  prompts  mendicity  must  neces- 
sarily defeat  its  object.  In  the  beginning  it  was 
only  an  extreme  measure  among  the  Friars 
Minor,  as  the  rulcvof  1221  shows :  "  It  is  forbidden 
to  the  brothers  to  receive  through  themselves  or 
through  others,  to  seek  through  themselves  or 
through  others,  any  money.  The  brothers,  how- 
ever, in  the  case  of  the  manifest  necessity  of  the 
lepers  may  seek  alms  for  them.^i  Later,  it  is 
true,  it   became  more  frequent,  and  the  rule  of 

^  Reg.  la,  Cap.  vii,  viii,  ix.  Cf.  also  P.  Saba  tier: 
Spec.  Perf.,  p.  64,  note  1.  Mullen  "Die  Anfange  des 
Minoritenordens,"  p.  35. 


Religious  Reform  169 

1223  simply  says  that  the  brothers  "must  go 
for  alms  with  confidence."^  Yet  it  was  rather 
as  a  means  of  practising  the  spirit  of  poverty 
than  as  a  general  rule,  and  the  brethren  were 
never  allowed  to  receive  any  money,  nor  any- 
thing that  was  not  strictly  necessary  for  their 
support.  In  his  Testament,  Francis  authorized 
mendicancy  only  in  case  of  necessity:  "When 
we  do  not  receive  the  price  of  our  work,  let  us 
have  recourse  to  the  table  of  the  Lord,  and 
openly  beg  for  alms.  "2 

Besides,  this  example  of  mendicity,  which  in 
our  time  would  probably  work  more  harm  than 
good,  could  be  and  was,  in  Francis's  time,  a 
means  of  reform.  In  the  eyes  of  this  young  popu- 
lation of  the  thirteenth  century,  virtues  and  les- 
sons appeared  at  their  best  when  realized  in  some 
concrete  image;  and  Francis  wished  his  brethren 
to  realize  in  themselves  the  concrete  image  of 
poverty,  and  they  went  around  begging  because 
begging  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  character- 
istics of  the  poor. 

"Very  dear  brethren  and  my  little  children," 
Francis  said  to  his  followers,  "  do  not  be  ashamed 
to  go  begging,  for  the  Lord  has  made  Himself 

1  Reg.  2a,  Cap.  vi.     Miiller:  op.  cit.,  p.  78  ff. 
'  Testamentum. 


170    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

poor  for  our  sake  in  this  world,  and  it  is  after 
His  example  that  we  have  chosen  the  true  pov- 
erty." *  Moreover,  Francis  and  his  companions  not 
only  worked  at  manual  labor,  and  through  their 
labor  were  to  support  themselves  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  community  unable  to  work;  they  also 
preached  the  word  of  God,  and  if  the  Gospel 
says  that  the  spiritual  laborer  is  worthy  of  his 
hire,  they  were  perfectly  justified  when  they 
begged  and  received  material  bread  in  ex- 
change for  the  spiritual  bread  which  they  gave 
to  the  people. 

Judged  by  the  standard  of  the  Gospel,  and 
the  light  of  the  time,  there  is  nothing  to  reprove  in 
this  conduct  of  Francis  and  of  the  first  Francis- 
cans. What  confirms  this  view  is  that,  Francis 
never  advised  or  encouraged  begging  outside  of 
his  order;  though  subordinating  labor  to  prayer 
and  corporal  care  to  spiritual,  he  ever  ex- 
horted all  to  labor  diligently.  Mendicancy 
was  only  an  instrument  towards  a  spiritual 
good;  it  fostered  humility  and  it  excited  in 
all  hearts  a  greater  admiration  and  a  greater 
love  for  St.  Francis's  favorite  virtue,  person- 
ified by  his  Lady  Poverty.  If  we  judge  him 
according  to  the  standard  by  which  he  was  guided 

1 II  Cel.,  Ill,  20.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  18,  22. 


Religious  Reform  171 

— the  Gospel  and  the  supernatural — his  attitude 
on  mendicancy  will  not  appear  strange.  "But 
the  sensual  man  perceiveth  not  the  things  that 
are  of  the  spirit  of  God:  for  it  is  foolishness  to 
him,  and  he  cannot  understand:  .  .  .  But  the 
spiritual  man  judgeth  all  things :  .  .  .  for  who  hath 
known  the  mind  of  the  Lord,  that  he  may  instruct 
him?  But  we  have  the  mind  of  Christ."^ 
Francis  lived,  believed,  loved  and  taught  from 
God's  point  of  view  as  he  understood  it.  If  we 
wish  to  judge  him  fairly  we  must  keep  this  in 
mind.  v 

/  Francis's  reform  was  primarily  religious, 
|and  he  looked  at  poverty  and  mendicity 
from  a  strictly  religious  point  of  view.  Yet  his 
love  for  Christian  poverty  carried  him  to  extremes 
which  neither  sound  principles  of  political  econ- 
omy and  social  reform,  nor  sound  religious 
principles  would  approve.  He  loved  beggars, 
whoever  they  were,  wherever  they  came  from, 
whatever  might  have  been  the  cause  of  their 
state.  He  gave  to  all  without  distinction,  shared 
with  them  all  that  he  had, — ^his  cloak  being  often 
the  object  of  his  generosity,-^and  always  with- 
out discrimination.  Once  a  companion  passed 
an  uncharitable  remark  on  a  beggar  whom 
1  T  Cor.  ii,  14-16. 


172   Francis  on  Social  Reform 

he  had  met:  "Brother,"  he  said  to  Francis, 
"it  is  true  that  this  man  looks  poor  enough, 
but  perhaps  there  is  not  one  in  the  whole  province 
richer  in  spirit."  Francis  was  shocked  by  such 
a  remark  and  immediately  ordered  the  guilty 
brother  to  take  off  his  tunic  and  prostrate  himself 
naked  before  the  poor  man,  asking  for  his  par- 
don and  his  prayers.  "And,"  he  added  by  way 
of  lesson,  "  do  you  know  the  gravity  of  your  sin 
against  this  poor  man,  against  Christ  Himself? 
When  you  see  a  poor  man  you  must  consider 
in  him  Christ  Himself,  whom  he  represents, 
Christ  who  has  assumed  our  poverty  and  our 
infirmity;  for  the  infirmity  and  poverty  of  this 
man  are  for  us  a  mirror  through  which  we  must 
see  and  consider  with  piety  the  infirmity  and 
poverty  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."^ 

In  this  we  recognize  the  mystic  Francis,  to 
whom  every  being  in  this  world  represented 
something  higher  and  greater.  He  saw  God  in 
all  creatures,  but  he  more  particularly  saw 
Christ  in  the  poor,  and  an  offense  against  a  poor 
man  became  for  him  an  offense  against  the  person 
of  Christ:  hence  the  danger  of  exaggeration.  It 
is  an  ideal  view  of  poverty  which  may  strike  an 
ideahst's  nature;  but,  when  carried  too  far  and 

» II  Cel.,  Ill,  29.    Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  37. 


Religious   Reform  173 

acted  upon  without  discrimination,  it  is  a  poor 
means  of  social  reform.  To  bestow  alms  on  the 
poor  indiscriminately  and  independently  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  merely  because  they  are 
taken  to  represent  Christ  in  poverty,  is  scarcely 
wise  from  any  standpoint  of  constructive  reform. 
It  is  true,  Francis's  primary  object  being 
religious  reform,  he  considered  almsgiving  as  an 
act  of  religion  rather  than  a  means  of  social' 
reform.  It  is  true  also,  that  at  the  time  in 
which  Francis  lived,  men  had  ideals  of  almsgiving 
altogether  different  from  those  which  we  have 
to-day:  they  gave  indiscriminately  and  to  all, 
for  the  sole  merit  of  giving.  ^  Yet  we  cannot 
help  thinking  that  such  indiscriminate  almsgiving 
must  have  often  encouraged  idleness,  and  stifled 
the  impulse  to  industry  which  should  have  been 
cultivated. 

1  Georg.  Ratzinger:    "Geschichte    der    kirchlichen 
Armenpflege,"  2nd  ed.    Freiburg-im-Breisgau,  1884. 


CHAPTER  III.— CONSERVATIVE 
REFORM. 

THE  reformation  of  society  does  not  neces- 
sarily imply  a  change  of  social  principles 
and  institutions,  since  these  are  not  always  the 
cause  of  social  evils.  Yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
reformers  seldom  stop  short  of  the  institutions 
and  principles:  they  appeal  from  monarchy  to 
democracy,  and  from  individualism  to  socialism. 
The  social  reformers  of  the  end  of  the  twelfth 
and  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  acted 
in  the  same  way.  Arnauld  di  Brescia  had 
attacked  the  right  of  temporal  possession  of 
wealth  by  the  Church,  not  simply  as  a  fact,  but 
as  a  principle;  the  followers  of  Pierre  Waldo 
denied  several  essential  doctrines  of  the  Church, 
and  the  Albigenses  opposed  the  whole  actual 
social  order, — the  Church,  property,  marriage, 
etc. — as  intrinsically  bad. 

The  reform  spirit  of  Francis  was  very  different. 
Most  conservative  in  his  principles,  censuring 
none   of   the   existing   institutions,    whether  in 


Conservative  Reform       175 

the  religious,  political,  or  economic  doinain,  his , 
reform  was  essentially  a  reform  of  society: 
through  individual  virtue. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Francis  never 
attacked  the  Church,  her  dogmas,  nor  her  hier-  . 
archy,  as  most  of  the  reformers  of  his  time  had  \ 
done. '  He  loved  the  Church  as  his  Mother,^  and 
thought  there  was  no  salvation  outside  of  it;^ 
he  had  the  greatest  respect  for  the  Lord  Pope;" 
for  the  Cardinal  Protector  of  the  order,*  for  the 
priests,  even  those  who  did  not  live  a  very 
exemplary  life,  because  he  saw  in  them  the  dig- 
nity more  than  the  man.'* 

As  to  the  dogmas  and  principles  of  the  Church, 
he  neither  attacked  them,  nor  attempted  to 
identify  them  with  his  movement  in  any  way.\ 
Not  that  he  did  not  love  the  Catholic  truths  which 
he  had  heard  from  his  mother,  or  at  the  school 
of  Santo  Giorgio;  these  were  all  included  in  his 
love  for  religion,  for  the  Church,  or  rather  for 
Christ,  for  the  saints,  for  the  Pope,  for  the 
priests  and  for  every  thing  which  came  from  the 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  78. 
^  I  Gel.,  62. 

'  I  Gel.,  32.     3  Soc,  46.     Bon.,  34. 
*  Testam. 

» I  Gel.,  46,  62,  75.     3  Soc.,57,  59.     Spec.  Perf.,  Gap. 
54.     Reg.  la,  Gap.  xx. 


176    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

mouth  of  Christ  or  His  representatives.  But  he 
had  a  distrust  for  theology  as  a  science. 
(  During  the  first  years  of  his  reform  work  it 
was  even  more  than  distrust;  it  was  antipathy. ^ 
Learning,  to  his  mind,  was  little  suited  to  simple 
and  poor  men,  such  as  he  wished  the  Friars  Minor 
to  be.  Their  only  science  was  to  be  the  contem- 
plation of  the  love  of  God,  the  science  of  the 
mystic*  It  was  not  by  theological  science  that 
the  Friars  Minor  would  convert  the  world,  but  by 
humility,  simplicity  and  prayer.  ^  In  fact  he 
thought  that  science  would  constitute  an  obstacle 
to  the  reform  which  he  contemplated.  Science, 
as  Francis  experienced  it  in  his  time,  often  led  to 
the  denial  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church :  "  Those 
who  are  puffed  up  by  the  wind  of  science,"  he 
said,  "distort  the  truth,  say  that  the  truth  is 
error,  and,  as-  blind  men,  deceive  those  who 
walk  in  the  truth.  But  on  the  day  of  judgment, 
the  error  and  falsity  of  their  opinions,  which  they 
will  have  preached  as  truths,  and  by  which  they 

1  Cf.  P.  Saba  tier:  "Vie  de  St.  Francois,"  Chap,  xvi, 
*'Les  Freres  Mineurs  et  la  science."  H.  Thode:  "Franz 
von  Assisi,"  pp.  378-385,  "Die  wissenschaftlichen 
Bestrebungen  der  Franciscaner."  L.  Le  Monnier: 
Vol.  II,  pp.  60-66,  75-85. 

2  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  4. 

3  Bon.,  103.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  72. 


Conservative  Reform       177 

will  have  thrown  many  souls  into  the  abyss  of 
blindness,  will  end  in  suffering,  confusion,  and 
shame,  and  they  and  their  tenebrous  opinions 
will  be  drowned  in  exterior  darkness."^  He  pre- 
dicted that  the  "Scientia  inflativa"  would  soon 
be  the  occasion  of  ruin  to  the  order.  2 

On  his  return  from  the  Orient,  if  we  may 
credit  the  statement  of  some  of  his  later  his- 
torians, he  simply  closed  the  school  of  theology 
which  Giovanni  di  Strachia,  provincial  of  Bologna, 
had  opened  without  permission,  and  at  the  next 
general  chapter  publicly  cursed  this  man  who  had 
dared  reopen  it  in  spite  of  his  formal  prohibition. 3 

Later  on  he  abated  somewhat  this  dislike  for 
science.  However,  he  never  favored  it  much; 
he  wrote  in  his  definitive  rule:  "Let  those  who 
do  not  know  letters  not  try  to  learn  them."* 
He  always  preferred  the  simple  and  the  ignorant 
to  the  learned,  with  the  exception  that  he  loved 
poets  and  poetry  ardently.  He  did  at  last  admit 
into  the  order  men  who  had  made  science  and 
preaching  their  profession,  like  Nicolo  Pepoli,  who 
had  taught  at  Bologna,  and  two  of  his  students, 

^Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  72. 

'  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  69. 

3  P.  Sabatier's  Spec.  Perf.,  p.  16,  n.  1. 

*  Reg.  2a,  Cap.  x. 


178  Francis  on  Social  Reform 

as  also  St.  Anthony  of  Padua  and  Alexander  of 
Hales.  This  was  followed  by  a  movement  in 
favor  of  science,  a  movement  which  developed  so 
rapidly  that  the  Franciscans  soon  became  the 
rivals  of  the  Dominicans  in  all  branches  of 
learning. 

While  Francis  continued  to  protest  against 
the  "Scientia  inflativa,"  he  permitted  his  follow- 
ers to  study,  provided  they  remained  faithful  in 
prayer  and  simplicity;  yet  he  understood  science, 
even  then,  not  so  much  as  an  end,  as  a  means  of 
perfection,  and  his  distrust  was  still  strong.  "I 
am  willing,"  he  said,  *'  that  some  of  the  brothers 
should  study  Holy  Scripture,  provided  accord- 
ing to  the  example  of  Christ,  who  is  said  to  have 
prayed  rather  than  to  have  read,  they  do  not 
omit  the  duty  of  prayer.  Let  them  learn,  not 
only  that  they  may  know  how  to  speak,  but  that 
they  may  practice  what  they  learn  and  propose 
it  to  the  imitation  of  others." » 

This  dislike  of  science  is  easily  understood  if 
we  believe  with  Newman  that  "Poetry  is  the 
antagonist  of  Science."  Science  analyzes,  syn- 
thetizes,  reasons,  draws  conclusions  from  firmly 
established  premises,  shows  the  relations  of  means 
to  end,  distinguishes  principles  and  their  applica- 

'  Bon.,  152, 


Conservative  Reform      179 

tions,  while  the  processes  in  the  mind  of  St. 
Francis  were  anything  but  these.  -He  was  a 
stranger  to'  the  processes  of  logic  and  discursive 
calculation.  He  was  impulsive  and  emotional 
as  children  are.     He  was  a  poet.    - 

With  such  views  on  theology,  there  could  be 
no  danger  of  an  attack  on  the  dogmas  and 
principles  of  the  Church.  The  conservatism  of 
St.  Francis  in  this  regard  was  absolute. 

In  the  political  order  as  well,  Francis  was  con- 
servative. He  attacked  neither  institutions  nor 
principles.  When  the  Emperor  Otto  was  on 
his  way  to  Rome  to  receive  the  imperial  crown, 
Francis  refused  to  go  to  see  him,  and  only 
allowed  one  of  his  brethren  to  meet  him  and 
announce  that  his  reign  would  be  of  short  dura- 
tion;^ this  was  not  contempt  of  political  power, 
but  rather  the  desire  to  show  that  happiness  is 
not  to  be  placed  in  this  power  any  more  than  in 
riches.  His  letters  to  political  rulers,  in  which 
he  calls  them  his  masters, ^  his  allusions  to  the 
dignity  of  those  who  wield  public  power,'  his 
conduct  toward  them,*  show  that  he  was  in  per- 

1 1  CeL,  43. 

»  "Opusc.  Sti.  P.  Franc.  As.,"  Ep.  iv,  Quaracchi  ed. 
8  Act.  Sanct.,Ap.  23,  de  B.  iEgidio,  Cap.  I,  H. 
*  Bon.,  135. 


180  Francis  on  Social  Reform 

feet  sympathy  with  the  institutions  of  the 
existing  order.  \y 

It  is  true  that  the  movement  inaugurated  by 
the  Third  Order  hastened,  particularly  in  Italy, 
the  disintegration  of  the  greatest  political  insti- 
tution of  the  Middle  Ages — the  feudal  system. 
But  Francis  never  dreamed  of  destroying  this 
system;  he  saw  in  it  abuses,  lack  of  justice 
between  lords  and  serfs,  lack  of  proportion 
between  the  services  rendered  by  the  two  respec- 
tive parties;  he  saw  the  serfs  too  often  oppressed 
by  their  masters:  those  abuses  he  tried  to 
reform.  Perhapfe  the  more  experienced  hand 
which  put  the  finishing  touch  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  Third  Order  foresaw,  or  even  calcu- 
lated in  advance,  the  events  which  were  to  follow 
the  reform  inaugurated  by  our  Saint,  and  which 
w^ere  finally  to  lead  the  feudal  system  to  destruc- 
tion; but  that  was  certainly  not  in  Francis's 
mind.  When  he  heard  a  serf  curse  his  master 
who  had  robbed  him  of  his  goods,  Francis  tried 
to  appease  him,  gave  him  his  cloak  and  made 
him  promise  not  to  curse  his  master  any  more.» 

A  more  radical  reformer  would  have  not  only 
sympathized  with  the  poor  serf,  but  blamed  with 
him  both  the  master  and  the  institution  which 

1 II  Cel.,  Ill,  33.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  32. 


Conservative  Reform      181 

caused  such  abuses.  -Francis  believed  that  indi- 
viduals, and  not  institutions,  caused  all  social 
wrongs.  -In  fact,  by  the  reconcihation  which  he 
brought  about  between  the  "majores"  and  the 
"  minores"  of  As«si,  by  the  charter  which  he  then 
inspired,  he  approved  and  accepted  the  divisions 
of  men  into  serfs  and  lords,  and  consequently,  the 
feudal  system  as  an  institution,  as  well  as  the 
principles  on  which  it  rested.  '-^ 

Francis  believed  that  the  inequahty  of  classes 
ie  necessary  in  any  social  order.  "The  rich  are 
our  brothers,"  he  said  once,  "for  we  have  all 
been  created  by  the  same  Creator.  They  are  our 
lords,  because  they  help  us  in  doing  penance  by 
supplying  to  us  what  is  necessary  for  the  body."^ 

Other  reformers  both  before,,  and*  in,  St. 
Francis's  time,  had  seen  no  other  remedy  for  the 
abuses  of  wealth  than  revolt  against  the  rich, 
and  the  extinction  of  class.  Francis  not  only 
recognized  the  distinction  of  social  classes,  but 
confirmed  it.  In  his  Third  Order,  members  of  all 
classes  were  received  without  losing  the  privileges 
of  their  position;  kings  and  serfs  belonged  to  it, 
but  the  kings  remained  kings  and  the  serfs 
remained  serfs. 

In  Francis's  mind,  not  only  did  the  poor  and  the 

1  3  Soc.,  58. 


182  Francis  on  Social  Reform   * 

subordinate  have  claims  on  the  charity  of  the  rich 
and  the  superiors,  but  also  the  useless  members 
of  society  had  a  right  to  support  and  care. 
They  were  men,  they  were  the  creatures  of  God, 
and  this  was  enough  for  him.  There  was  in  the 
Middle  Ages  no  being  more  useless  than  the  leper, 
none  lower  in  the  social  scale,  yet  none  received 
from  Francis  and  his  companions  more  tender 
care.  Through  them  this  class  of  people,  so 
numerous  in  their  time,  was  brought  to  the 
enjoyment  of  social  rights  and  services  from 
which  they  had  been  more  or  less  excluded 
before. 

Francis  was  also  most  conservative  in  the 
economic  principles  which  he  unconsciously 
held.  Labor,  in  his  conception,  was  an  obliga- 
tion, at  least  in  that  order  which  was  to  serve 
as  an  example  to  the  whole  world.  The  time  of 
the  brothers  was  divided  between  prayer  and 
labor.  1  The  brothers  of  the  first  order  helped 
the  peasants  in  their  fields. ^  "I  wish  all  my 
brothers  to  work,"  Francis  said,  "  that  we  may 
be  less  burdensome  to  others  and  that  our  heart 
and  our  tongue  may  not  be  exposed  to  the 
danger  of  idleness,  and  those  who  do  not  know 

^  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  10.     Reg.  la.  Cap.  vii. 
2  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  55. 


Conservative  Reform      183       u 

how  to  work  must  learn.''^  ""^If  any  man  will.  V^^ 
not  work,  neither  let  him  eat/^fie  said  in  his  first 
rule. 2  To  a  brother  who  ate  well,  drank  well, 
and  slept  well,  but  prayed  Httle  and  worked 
less,  he  said :  **  Go  thy  way.  Brother  Fly,  thou 
hast  loiig  enough  lived  like  the  hornets  who 
make  no  honey  and  eat  that  of  the  bees,"  and 
without  more  ado  he  dismissed  him  from  the 
convent.  3  ^ 

-^  He  made  it  a  rule  that  all  his  brethren  should  | 
work  at  a  trade;  if  they  knew  none,  they  were 
obhged  to  learn  one.*    They  worked  in  order  to 
obtain  the  things  that  were  necessary  for  their 
support.* 

This  obligation  to  labor  for  the  purpose  of 
supporting  the  members  of  the  order  and  avoid- 
ing idleness  does  honor  to  Francis's  judgment. 
Monks,  before  his  time,  had  worked,  and  this 
work  was  the  source  of  great  benefit  to  civili- 
zation.    But  the  motive  which  made  them  work 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  75. 

2  Reg.  la,  Cap.  vii. 

3 II  Cel.,  Ill,  21.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  24. 

*  Reg.  la.  Cap.  vii.  Testam.  II  Thess.  iii,  10. 
Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  75, 

5  Reg.  2a,  Cap.  v.  Cf.  other  references  on  Fran- 
ciscan labor  in  P.  Sabatier's  Spec.  Perf.,  p.  148,  and  K. 
MiiUer's  "Die  Anfange  des  Minoritenordwis,  pp.  35 
ff.,  44  ff. 


184    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

was  rather  spiritual:  to  avoid  idleness,  to  do 
penance.  Their  work  was  not  necessary  to 
support  them,  nor  was  it  done  with  that  inten- 
tion. Francis  introduced  a  new  spirit  in  the 
labor  of  religious.  As  his  brethren  were  to  be 
living  models  to  the  people,  particularly  to  the 
poor  laboring  classes,  he  wished  them  to  work 
like  the  poor,  Hke  the  artisans  of  the  cities,  like 
the  peasants  on  the  farms ;  in  one  word,  to  earn  a 
livehhood.»  It  was  to  make  a  living  that  Egidio 
carried  water  in  Brindisi,  made  baskets  in  Ancona, 
sold  wood  in  Rome.  ^  Higher  motives  were  not 
exc'uded,  but  a  new  motive  was  added  which  was 
to  be  a  potent  factor  ii]^  the  efficacy  of  Franciscan 
preaching  and  example.  In  Francis's  mind,  work 
was  not  to  have  for  its  object  mere  profit,  nor 
however,  was  it  to  be  limited  to  supernatural 
ends, — a  motive  often  inaccessible  to  the  common 
people.  It  was  to  be  for  the  satisfying  of 
their  present  needs:  *^ corporis  necessaria.'^ 

Francis  believed  that  the  laborer,  by  his  work, 
deserved  a  reward  amply  sufficient  for  himself 
and  for  those  whom  he  is  bound  to  support: 
"Out  of  the  reward  of  their  work,  let  them 
(the  brethren)  receive  the  things  necessary  for 

»  Act.  Sanct.,  Ap.  23,  de  B.  Egidio,  n.  5. 
'  Reg.  la,  Cap.  vii.     Reg.  2a,  Cap.  v. 


Conservative  Reform       185 

themselves  and  for  their  brethren."^  "Out  of 
their  reward,"  says  Francis,  because  the  brethren 
were  not  to  accept  more  than  the  necessaries  of 
Hfe  for  themselves  and  the  community;  but 
Francis  supposed  that  more  is  owed  to  the 
laborer,  and  that  he  has  a  right  not  only  to  the 
necessaries  of  life,  but  also  to  some  comfort,  in 
exchange  for  the  work  which  he  does. 

Besides  manual  labor,  there  is  also  another 
hhoT  which  deserves  its  reward:  it  is  the  spiritual 
work,  the  work  which  has  for  its  object  the 
good  of  souls.  *  The  members  of  the  first  order 
were  to  preach,  =  and  it  was  in  return  for  this 
spiritual  labor,  as  well  as  to  be  more  like  the  poor 
of  God,  that  Francis  recommended  recourse  to 
begging  in  case  of  necessity>\  The  brethren,  in 
receiving  alms,  only  received  what  was  due  to 
them  as  a  reward  for  their  preaching  and  their 
work  in  the  spiritual  world  of  God. 

Land  ownership  had  been  the  cause  of  serious 
abuses  in  the  Middle  Ages;  it  had  become  prac- 
tically the  source  of  all  authority  and  of  all 
civil  rights.  Heretics  had  protested  in  the  name 
of  religion  and  philosophy:  all  matter,  in  their 
way  of  thinking,  came  from  the  evil  principle, 

*  Reg.  2a,  Cap.  v. 

«Reg.  la,  Cap.  xvii.     Reg.  2a,  Cap.  ix. 


186   Francis  on  Social  Reform 

and  was  itself  evil.  It  was  the  old  Manichean 
doctrine,  which  furnished  them  a  means  of 
attack  against  the  possession  of  riches. 

Francis  did  not  condemn  land  ownership;  he 
accepted  and  sanctioned  it,  condemning  only  the 
abuses  to  which  it  gave  rise.^ 

It  is  true  that  in  the  first  and  second  orders  no 
property  was  allowed  in  any  form;  the  com- 
munity, as  such,  owned  nothing.  But  this  was 
the  condition  of  the  perfect,  of  those  who  fol- 
lowed not  only  the  commandments,  but  the 
counsels,  and  Francis  never  dreamt  of  applying 
this  state  of  things  outside  of  the  select  numbers 
which  he  had  gathered  around  him.  On  the 
contrary,  Francis  had  a  keen  sense  of  the  right 
of  property.  When  he  wished  to  destroy  the 
house  which  had  been  built  in  Assisi  for  the 
visitors,  and  the  soldiers  came  to  him  and  told 
him  that  this  house  was  not  his  but  belonged 
to  the  town  of  Assisi,  he  immediately  gave  up 
his  work  of  destruction  and  said:  "Therefore,  if 
it  is  yours,  I  will  not  touch  it."^  The  same  thing 
occurred  in  Bologna,  and  shows  that  Francis 
opposed  the  possession  of  goods  only  in  the  first 
and  second  orders.  ^ 

» II  Cel.,  Ill,  3.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  7. 

2 II  Cel.,  Ill,  4.     Bon.,  89.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  6. 


Conservative  Reform      187 


\i 


In  the  Third  Order,  he  recognized  the  right  of 
private  ownership,  and  confirmed  it  by  accepting 
landowners  and  merchants  as  well  as  serfs  and 
artisans  as  members;  he  never  asked  them  to 
sell  their  goods  and  give  the  product  to  the  poor. 
All  the  Tertiaries  were  to  write  their  wills, 
lest  they  die  intestate,*  which  again  shows  that 
he  recognized  not  only  the  right  of  property, 
but  also  the  right  to  transmit  property  to  others 
by  the  sole  will  of  the  donor.  Again,  Francis  al- 
ways respected  as  his  masters  the  lords,  who  were 
the  land  owners  of  the  time,  and  he  exacted  , 
for  them  from  his  brethren  the  same  respect. ^ 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  use  of  money, 
an  institution  also  loudly  condemned  by  some 
reformers  of  the  time.  It  was  not  allowed  in 
the  order,  and  Francis,  in  his  pious  exaggeration, 
made  it  a  crime  for  his  brethren  not  only  to 
retain,  but  to  touch  a  coin.'  But  he  did  not 
apply  this  rule  to  outsiders,  and  he  fully  under- 
stood the  utility  of  money,  since  he  made  the 
members  of  the  Third  Order  contribute  one  denier 
each  month  to  the  general  fund  of  the  com- 
munity. *  "^ 

1  Reg.  Ant.  (Sabatier),  Cap.  x. 

*3Soc.,58. 

»  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  14. 


188    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

All  this  shows  that  Francis  was  far  from 
attacking  any  of  the  social  principles  or  insti- 
tutions existing  in  his  time.  A  faithful  child  of 
the  Church,  no  thought  was  further  from  his 
mind  than  that  of  attacking  her  dogma  and 
practice.  Always  humble  and  respectful  in  his 
relations  with  civil  authorities,  with  the  lords 
and  the  rich,  he  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course 
the  received  principles  of  his  day  concerning  the 
government  of  the  state,  the  ownership  of  land, 
and  the  labor  contracts.  It  never  crossed  his 
mind  that  some  other  social  order  might  be  pref- 
erable to  the  one  then  in  force.  Yet  he  was 
not  blind  to  the  existing  evils:  he  saw  the  in- 
justice, the  hatred,  the  strife,  which  agitated 
society;  but  instinctively  he  attributed  these 
evils  to  the  perversion  of  the  human  heart,  and 
it  was  the  individual  that  he  strove  to  reform* 

1  Reg.  Ant.  (Sabatier),  Cap.  vii. 


CHAPTER  IV.— INDIVIDUAL  REFORM. 

FRANCIS  had  a  very  concrete  view  of  the 
social  question,  as  of  everything  else. 
There  was  no  social  evil  for  him  but  sin,  and  sin 
as  affecting  the  individual  ;^and  no  social  reform  j 
but  the  removing  of  sin  from  the  individual  soul. 
To  bring  back  men  from  sin  to  grace,  from  vice 
to  virtue,  was  the  object  of  his  own  and  his  fol- 
lowers' efforts.  >^With  marvelous  tact,"  says 
Mr.  Paul  Saba  tier,  "he  felt  that  the  work  of 
reform  of  the  Church  was  a  work  of  interior 
renovation;  it  is  one  of  the  characteristics  that 
make  his  attempt  absolutely  an  original  effort 
and  differentiate  it  from  the  other  reform  move- 
ments of  the  same  epoch.'* ^  ^ 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  philosophy  in  the 
unphilosophical  Francis.  The  end  of  man  is 
happiness,  and  Francis  aimed  at  happiness: 
happiness  in  the  other  world,  happiness  even  in 
this  world.  But  the  means  to  this  happiness 
are  internal  rather  than  external,  and  the  reform 
which  is  to  reestabUsh  order  is  to  be  an  internal 

1  P.  Sabatier's  Spec.  Perf.,  p.  93,  n.  1. 


u 


190   Francis  on  Social  Reform 

renovation.  In  other  words,  not  things,  not 
institutions,  not  philosophy,  but  persons,  must 
be  reformed  in  order  to  effect  social  reform. 
These  are  the  ideas  which  Francis  instinctively 
put  into  practice.  He  might  have  adopted  for 
his  motto  the  German  proverb:  *'  Let  us  be  better, 
and  the  world  will  be  better";  or  he  might  have 
said,  as  Peter  Alcantara  to  a  pessimistic  Spanish 
knight  i"^'  My  dear  friend,  have  God's  law  observed 
in  your  home,  by  example  and  authority,  and  if 
everyone  does  as  much  the  world  will  be  saved." 

In  this  we  have  the  whole  idea  of  Francis  on 
social  reform.  While  he  admitted  the  distinction 
of  classes  in  the  social  order,  he  saw  that  the 
members  of  one  class  were  abusing  their  power 
and  authority  to  oppress  the  members  of  a  weaker 
class.  The  lords  were  treating  the  serfs  as 
slaves  rather  than  as  brothers,  and  Francis 
reminded  them  of  the  duty  of  masters  to  their 
servants.  The  superiors  of  the  order  were  not  to 
be  called  abbots  nor  priors,  but  ministers,  to 
show  that  they  must  be  the  servants  of  those 
who  were  under  their  care,^  and  in  this  way  they 
were  to  give  to  the  world  an  example  of  the  true 
Christian  relations  which  must  exist  between 
the  higher  and  lower  classes.     The  lords  were 

1  Reg.  la,  Cap.  iv. 


Individual  Reform         191 

received  into  the  Third  Order  on  the  same  con- 
ditions as  the  serfs,  and  the  serfs  were  their 
equals  in  all  that  concerned  the  administration 
and  privileges  of  the  order. 

Yet  Francis  was  awake  to  the  failings  of  the 
lower  class,  and  he  endeavored  to  remove  all  dis- 
trust, envy,  and  cupidity  from  their  hearts.  -  He 
showed  them  the  beauty  of  poverty,  which  Christ 
had  embraced,  and  told  them  that  they  should  be 
satisfied  with  the  share  which  Providence  had 
given  them.  They  could  not  only  more  easily 
obtain  the  kingdom  of  heaven  which  Christ  had 
promised  to  those  who  bear  poverty  with  the 
Christian  spirit,  but  they  could  also,  and  should, 
be  happy  even  in  this  life.  -"Happiness  is  not 
dependent  on  riches,  but  on  peace  of  con- 
science and  on  virtue. -True  happiness  is  in 
hope,  in  prayer,  in  power  over  one's  self,  in  the 
freedom  of  the  soul.*  The  Franciscans  were 
poor,  yet  there  were  none  happier  than  they.^ 
'-Francis  enjoyed  created  things  more  than  any 
other  saint  or  reformer  ever  had.  Though  he 
was  poor,  the  birds  of  the  air,  the  fishes  of  the 
sea,  the  insects  of  the  field  were  all  his,  and  they 

»  Cf.  Chap,  on  Perfect  Joy  in  Acta  B.  Franc,  Cap. 
7,  and  Fioretti,  Cap.  8.  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  96.  Cf. 
also  P.  Sabatier's  Spec.  Perf.,  p.  Ixii,  and  p.  190,  n.  1. 

2 1  Cel.,  38,  39. 


192    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

were  for  him  a  continual  source  of  enjoyment 
and  happiness.  '  He  wished  men  to  understand 
that  this  happiness  is  within  the  reach  of  all 
individuals;  it  was  not  a  future  happiness,  to  be 
realized  by  a  revolution  or  by  the  slow  evolution 
of  mankind,  but  immediate  and  actual  for  each 
man.i 

Though  happiness  was  in  poverty  more  truly 
than  in  riches  and  power,  though  it  was  the  duty 
of  the  members  of  the  lower  class  to  avoid  hatred, 
envy,  cupidity,  yet  no  class  was  to  be  deprived 
of  its  natural  rights.  The  serfs  were  perfectly 
justified  in  resisting  the  unjust  demands  and 
encroachments  of  their  lords,  and  should  even 
use  the  strength  of  association  to  bring  to  terms 
those  who  wished  to  oppress  them.  The  duties 
of  the  Third  Order,  including  the  prohibition  for 
the  brethren  to  carry  arms  and  to  take  solemn 
oaths,  the  obhgation  to  contribute  to  a -common 
fund  which  was  used  to  assist  the  oppressed 
serfs,  aimed  at  reclaiming  rights  which  had  been 
taken  away  from  them. 

1  Hence  the  following  statement  of  Ruskin  ("Morn- 
ings in  Florence")  is  not  entirely  correct:  "The  Gospel 
of  works,  according  to  Francis  lay  in  three  things: 
you  must  work  without  money  and  be  poor;  you  must 
work  without  pleasure  and  be  chaste;  you  must  work 
according  to  orders  and  be  obedient." 


Individual  Reform         193 

At  the  same  time  that  this  association  brought 
strength  to  the  people,  it  inculcated  on  them  the 
duty  of  solidarity  in  a  manner  stronger  than 
ever  before.  The  guilds  had  brought  together 
men  of  the  same  trade,  but  between  the  different 
corporations  bitter  rivalries  often  existed.  -The 
Third  Order  united  all  men;  not  only 
the  members  of  the  municipality,  but  also 
cities  and  provinces  and  even  nations  were 
leagued  together,  so  that  the  Third  Order  was 
really  an  international  association  which  showed 
to  all  men  their  duty  to  unite  in  the  cause  of 
good,  in  opposition  to  the  selfishness  and  the 
cruelty  of  the  favored  few.   ^/^ 

Again,  though  Francis  never  attacked  riches 
in  themselves  as  something  intrinsically  evil, 
he  understood  that  they  wd^re  a  source  of  much 
trouble  and  misery.  "For,  from  possession 
arise  diflSculties  and  disputes,  which  put  all  kinds 
of  obstacles  to  the  love  of  God  and  of  our  neigh- 
bor."^ While  many  looked  upon  riches  as  the 
greatest  good  and  as  a  sign  of  prosperity,  Francis 
saw  in  them,  or  rather  in  their  abuse,  the  curse 
of  the  time;  for,  though  they  were  God's  creatures, 
and  good  in  themselves,  they  had  been  diverted 
from  their  proper  object  and  made  an  obstacle 

1  3  Soc.,  35.    Bern.  Bess.,  Cap.  IV. 


194   Francis  on  Social  Reform 

instead  of  a  means  in  the  relations  between  God 
and  man — ^a  condition  against  which  Francis 
protested  with  all  his  might. 

Poverty  was  not  to  be  eradicated  from  this 
world,  but  on  the  contrary  to  be  made  the  prin- 
ciple of  true  happiness/  Other  reformers  had 
contempt  for  poverty,  and  made  the  poor  more 
miserable  by  emphasizing  their  misfortunes  and 
shame.  Francis  made  them  love  their  poverty. 
He  looked  upon  it  as  a  state  which  would  always 
exist  in  the  world  for  the  good  of  the  world.  Our 
Lord  had  consecrated  it,  and  it  was  to  remain 
till  the  end  of  time;  not,  however,  to  be  an  object 
of  shame  and  horror  to  men,  but  an  object  of 
love.  Nor  should  all  men  necessarily  be  poor 
in  reality:  the  spirit  of  poverty  was  the  essential 
thing.     '^ 

Money  particularly  had  been  abused.  The 
more  and  more  frequent  commutation  of 
feudal  services  into  money  payments 
especially  at  the  time  of  the  Crusades;  the  won- 
derful development  of  Italian  commerce  at  the 
same  epoch,  coupled  with  the  scarcity  of  gold  and 
silver  caused  by  the  construction  of  numerous 
and  magnificent  churches  and  the  manufacture 
of  rich  sacred  vessels,  had  brought  about  a  fever- 
ish eagerness  for  the  possession  of  money.     All 


Individual  Reform         195 

were  bent  on  making  money,  and  to  obtain  it 
fair  and  foul  means  were  used  alike.  This  abuse 
had  attracted  the  most  violent  protests  from 
the  reformers,  and  Francis  was  not  the  last  in 
raising  his  voice  against  the  evil.  'Always 
ready  to  do  more  than  he  required  from  others, 
he  renounced  all  use  of  money,  in  order  that 
others  might  learn  from  him  as  well  as  from  his 
brothers  how  to  practise  a  just  moderation,  and 
to  avoid  setting  their  hearts  on  an  object  which 
was  not  worthy  of  them.^ 

The  life  of  the  brethren  was  also  to  be  for  all 
an  example  of  self-sacrifice  and  renunciation. 
These  virtues  men  had  too  often  forgotten;  each 
man  lived  for  himself,  and  was  unwilKng  to  suflPer 
anything  whatever  for  the  sake  of  his  fellow  men. 
When  each  member  insists  on  having  all  his 
rights  and  limits  himself  to  defined  duties,  there 
can  be  little  hope  of  peace  and  concord.  -Hence 
Francis  wished  each  one  to  act  more  generously.*- 
The  Franciscans  gave  all  their  goods  to  the  poor 
before  joining  the  order;  it  was  not  too  much  then 
to  ask  of  the  rich  of  the  world  to  make  little 
sacrifices  in  favor  of  the  poor,  nor  was  it  too  much 
to  ask  the  poor  to  bear  with  patience  the  sac- 
rifices  which   Providence  imposed   upon   them. 

'  II  Cel.,  Ill,  11.     Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  14. 


196    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

Cooperation  should  be  the  law  governing  the  rela- 
tions of  classes  and  persons.^  Mankind  is  the 
world  of  God,  showing  beauty  and  harmony  in 
all  relations;  men  are  all  fellow  workers,  not 
rivals,  in  this  world,  and  all  must  cooperate 
towards  the  same  end, — the  happiness  of  all. 
The  rich  must  help  the  poor  in  exchange  for 
the  services  and  respect  which  the  latter  pay 
them;  the  poor  must  respect  the  rich  and  render 
them  gladly  the  services  to  which  they  are  bound 
by  their  condition.  The  Third  Order  tended 
precisely  to  reestablish  this  cooperation  and 
good  feeling  between  all  men  and  all  classes. 

The  rich  should  avoid  those  excesses,  lordly 
manners,  luxurious  life,  which,  perhaps  more 
than  the  differences  of  fortune  and  condition, 
vexed  and  embittered  the  poor  and  the  lowly. 
The  contrast  itself  caused  suffering  and  bad 
feeling.  It  was  this  abuse  that  Francis  wished 
to  remedy  when  he  made  it  a  rule  that  the 
members  of  the  Third  Order  should  avoid  all  vain 
ornaments  in  their  way  of  dressing,  dishonest 
festivals,  theaters,  dances,  etc.*  The  poor  feel 
their  poverty  much  less  when  they  see  the  rich 
dress  simply,  eat  plain  food,  and  rest  satisfied  with 
the  innocent  pleasures  of  home.^ 

Francis  had  another  object  in  view  when  he 

1  Reg.  Ant.  (Sabatier),  Cap.  i. 


Individual  Reform         197 

endeavored  to  check  excesses  among  the  rich  and 
to  restrain  the  cupidity  of  the  poor.  It  is  not 
the  abundance  of  goods  which  produces  happi- 
ness; the  rich  with  all  their  fortune  have  perhaps 
more  unsatisfied  desires  than  the  poor  themselves, 
and  it  is  probable  that  happiness  is  in  inverse 
ratio  with  wants.  Hence,  Francis's  object  was 
to  decrease  the  wants  in  order  to  increase  happi- 
ness. The  brothers  were  happier  than  other 
men,  because  they  had  fewer  wants  and  desires 
than  others.  "  Lovers  of  the  most  holy  poverty," 
says  Tommaso  di  Celano,  "possessing  nothing, 
they  were  attached  to  nothing,  and  feared  the 
loss  of  nothing,  distracted  by  no  care,  without 
any  trouble  or  anxiety,  they  expected  the  mor- 
row without  fear.'V  If  the  rich  were  less  attached 
to  their  fortune,  they  would  fear  less  the  loss  of 
it;  if  they  had  not  created  for  themselves  a  thou- 
sand wants,  they  would  not  suffer  from  the 
impossibility  of  satisfying  them.  The  poor 
are  protected  against  such  a  danger  by  the 
>^ry  nature  of  their  condition,  and  they  should 
be  careful  not  to  increase  uselessly  wants  which 
make  man  a  slave. 

It  is  for  the  same  reason,  though  in  a  different 

» I  CeL,  39. 


198    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

order  of  things,  that  Francis  always  opposed 
the  asking  of  privileges  from  the  Sovereign  Pon- 
tiff, though  these  could  have  been  easily  obtained; 
they  were  in  fact  often  ojffered  to  the  Friars  Minor, 
and  sometimes  imposed  on  them  in  spite  of  them- 
selves. He  knew  that  such  privileges  would 
increase  the  desires  and  ambition  of  the  brothers 
by  increasing  advantages  and  authority:  instead 
of  being  useful  to  the  order,  they  could  only  be 
a  cause  of  trouble.^ 

There -was  another  lesson  which  Francis  never 
ceased  to  inculcate  by  word  and  example,  to 
preach,  to  teach  in  private  and  in  public,  among 
his  brethren  and  among  all  men — the  beauty  of 
charity  at  the  same  time  as  its  necessity. 
L^  **  Never,"  says  Mr.  Paul  Sabatier, "  never  did  any 
man  contemplate  a  more  complete  social  reno- 
vation, but  if  the  aim  is  the  same  as  for  many 
revolutionists  who  came  after  him,  the  means  are 
altogether  different; — his  only  weapon  was  love." 
This  was,  as  it  were,  the  summary  of  his  means  of 
reform.'  He  had  found  men  at  war:  there  were 
wars  between  nations,  wars  between  provinces, 
wars  between  towns,  between  families,  between 

1  Testam.  Spec.  Perf.,  Cap.  50.  Cf.  also  P.  Saba- 
tier: "Tract  de  Indulg."  p.  xix,  n.  1.  and  p.  xxxv, 
and  F.  Lempp:     "Frere  Elie,"  p.  58. 


UNIVERSITY  I 

OF  J 

Individual  Reform   "      199 

individuals,  and  to  restore  peace,  Francis  recom- 
mended to  all,  charity.  ^'IVien  were  brothers,  not 
enemies,  and  they  should  love,  not  hate  each 
other.  Francis  had  found  the  dijfferent  classes 
of  society  in  continual  opposition:  superiors 
oppressing  inferiors,  serfs  revolted  against  their 
lords,  subjects  against  their  masters;  he  taught 
the  lower  classes  how  to  love  those  who  repre- 
sented God's  authority  on  earth.  Justice  will  do 
much  towards  restoring  social  order,  but  it  will 
stop  short  of  peace  unless  charity, — above  all 
Christian  charity,  the  charity  of  men  considering 
themselves  as  brothers  in  Christ, — confirm  and 
complete  the  peaceful  relations  which  must 
exist  between  classes  and  between  individ- 
uals. In  other  words,  classes  and  individuals 
cannot  be  brought  together  in  permanent 
concord  by  duty  alone,  but  by  duty  and  sym- 
pathy.      \ 

Hence,  the  members  of  the  Third  Order  were 
requested  not  only  to  restore  stolen  goods,  but 
to  avoid  everything  that  might  check  the  charity 
and  sympathy  which  should  exist  between  the 
members  and  between  all  men;  they  were  to 
appeal  to  judges  only  in  case  of  necessity,  to 
avoid  lawsuits  and  oaths,  to  write  their  wills, 
in  order  to  prevent  dissensions,  to  have  recourse 


200    Francis  on  Social  Reform 

to  friendly  reconciliations.  It  was  the  duty 
of  the  visitor  to  visit  the  communities  in  order  to 
settle  immediately  the  little  quarrels  which  might 
have  become  serious  if  they  had  not  been 
"smothered  at  their  inception.  ^ 

Besides,  justice  can  exist  only  between  men 
bound  together  by  rights  and  duties:  charity 
extends  to  all  men  and  to  all  things.  Not  only 
could  the  lords  and  serfs,  rich  and  poor,  clergy 
and  laity,  contribute  in  their  respective  positions 
to  social  peace,  but  there  was  not  one  man  on 
earth  who  could  not,  by  his  example,  his  efforts, 
his  kindness,  contribute  towards  universal  peace. 
"  Love  one  another,  as  I  have  loved  you,"^  was 
the  commandment  of  Christ  to  His  disciples,  and 
it  was  the  advice  of  Francis  and  his  Friars  Minor 
to  all  men:  "  Love  one  another.  If  you  love  one 
another  there  can  be  no  social  oppression,  no 
social  conflict.  Love  one  another  and  the  world 
will  be  reformed.  It  will  become  again  the  world 
of  God,  in  which  charity  reigns,  and  with  charity, 
harmony  and  order." 

Such  was  reform  in  Francis's  mind:  the 
reform  of  society  by  the  individual;  the  reform 
of  the  individual  by  the  observance  of  the  rules 

1  Reg.  Ant.  (Saba tier).  Cap.  vi,  viii,  x,  xiii. 

2  Joan.  XV,  12. 


Individual  Reform         201 

of  the  Third  Order,  which  were  simply  the  Chris- 
tian principles  applied  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  time.  The  rich  sympathizing  with  the  poor, 
charitable  towards  them;  the  poor  assisted  by 
the  rich,  and  resigned  to  their  condition,  or 
rather,  happy  in  their  poverty;  masters  just 
and  humane;  workmen  conscientious  and 
satisfied;  the  authorities,  the  ofl&cials,  respecting 
the  rights  of  God,  Church,  and  conscience; 
inferiors  respecting  legitimate  authority:  these 
were  the  means  which  were  to  bring  peace  among 
individuals,  families,  social  classes,  nations. 
Church  and  state,  and  to  make  the  world  the 
ideal  Christian  society,  everything  cooperating 
in  the  eternal  and  temporal  welfare,  of  men.    < — 


CONCLUSION 


CONCLUSION. 

1.  Later  History  of  the  Movement. 

2.  Lessons  for  Our  Day. 

l.^r^HE  popular  movement  and  the  social  reform 
'■•  begun  by  Francis  reached  their  climax  in 
his  own  days.  Yet  they  did  not  die  with  him: 
the  impulse  was  given,  and  St.  Francis  had 
worthy  successors  in  those  disciples  who,  formed 
by  him  and  faithful  to  his  high  ideal  of  poverty, 
remained  the  friends  of  the  poor  and  helpless 
and  the  reformers  of  God's  Church.  Among 
these  it  will  suffice  to  mention  St.  Clare,  who 
twice  saved  her  native  town  from  the  attacks 
of  usurpers;  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  who  bravely 
intervened  in  the  dissensions  between  Guelphs 
and  Ghibellines,  protected  the  people  against  the 
tyranny  of  Ezzelino  at  Verona,  restored  peace  at 
Padua,  and  protested  loudly  against  the  progress 
of  usury;  the  young  St.  Rose  of  Viterbo,  who 
denounced  publicly  and  with  so  much  effect  the 
Emperor  Frederick  II;  St.  Margaret  of  Cortona, 
who   saved    from    oppression    the   town   where 


206  Conclusion 

she  had  found  a  refuge  for  her  virtue.  Above 
all,  Francis  continued  to  live  in  his  Third 
Order,  which,  assisted  by  the  Popes,  resisted 
the  encroachments  of  princes  and  lords  and 
won  for  the  people  liberty  and  independence. 

But  meanwhile,  the  influence  of  the  first  order 
had  been  paralyzed  more  or  less  by  internal 
divisions,  not  to  speak  of  intrigues  at  Rome  and 
conflicts  with  other  orders  and  with  the  secular 
clergy,  which  noticeably  diminished  its  power 
over  the  people. 

,  With  the  fifteenth  century  opens  a  new  phase 
of  the  Franciscan  movement,  always  inspired  by 
the  ideas  and  the  sweet  figure  of  Francis  still 
living  in  the  memory  and  love  of  his  children. 
St.  Bernardino  of  Siena,  Albert  of  Sardiano, 
Bernarbe  of  Temi,  St.  James  of  the  Marches, 
St.  John  of  Capistran,  all  Franciscans  according 
to  the  mind  of  their  Father,  made  a  brave  fight 
in  favor  of  the  poor  against  Jewish  bankers  and 
usurers.  Blessed  Bernardino  of  Feltre  completed 
in  Italy  the  organization  of  the  "  Monti  di  Pieta," 
which  from  Italy  spread  over  the  whole  Christian 
world,  for  the  good  of  the  little,  the  weak,  and  all 
the  friends  of  Francis. 

But  this  was  as  the  last  spark  of  life  in  the 
popular  movement  created  by  Francis.     In  the 


Conclusion  207 

sixteenth  century,  new  relaxation,  new  divisions 
in  the  order,  the  gradual  transformation  of  the 
Third  Order  into  a  purely  reUgious  order,  then 
also  the  progress  of  the  Renaissance  and  the  rise 
of  the  Reformation,  mark  the  end  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan reform  movement. 

Since  then,  and  particularly  at  the  end  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  efforts  have  been  made  to 
restore  to  the  Third  Order  its  social  influence. 
Leo  XIII,  in  his  encychcals  "Auspicato," 
'*Huraanum  genus,*'  "Quod  auctoritate,"  in 
his  letters  and  in  his  discourses,  again  and  again 
recommended  this  Third  Order  to  the  Church  as 
a  solution  of  the  social  question,  and  with  tlus 
object  in  view  revised  its  rule  by  his  constitu- 
tion "Misericors  Dei  Filius."  Franciscan  con- 
gresses have  met  and  passed  resolutions  aiming 
at  the  restoration  of  the  Third  Order  as  a  reform 
movement.  Some  good  has  been  accomplished, 
but  much  remains  to  be  done  before  practical 
results  are  obtained  which  can  compare  with 
the  effects  of  Francis's  reform  in  the  thirteenth 
century. 

2.  The  lesson  which  Francis  has  left  us 
should  not  be  lost.  The  success  as  well  as  the 
shortcomings   of   the   movement   must   serve   to 


208  Conclusion 

guide  us  in  the  solution  of  the  present  social 
problem. 

It  is  true,  circumstances  have  changed :  our 
social  problem  is  not  the  social  problem  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  and  the  solution  must  change 
with  the  problem.  Yet  it  is  true  also  that  there 
are  many  features  in  common  in  the  two  problems ; 
and  if  it  is  so,  the  solution  given  by  Francis 
must  contain  many  elements  which,  adapted  to 
present  circumstances,  would  be  available  for 
the  solution  of  the  actual  social  question. 

To-day,  as  well  as  in  Francis's  time,  there  is 
a  sharp  division  between  social  classes,  between 
the  poor  and  the  rich,  the  powerful  and  the  weak. 
In  the  thirteenth  century  it  was  land  and  land 
ownership  which  conferred  authority  and  power; 
to-day  it  is  capital  and  wealth.  The  names 
hatve  changed:  the  lords  have  been  replaced  by 
the  capitalists,  the  serfs  by  the  workingmen,  but  [ 
the  oppression  and  the  opposition  are  the  same.  / 
To-day,  as  well  as  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
there  is  a  social  unrest,  an  aspiration  towards  al 
better  state;  the  working  people  are  making! 
their  way  toward  liberty  and  independence; 
the  progress  of  trade-unions  and  of  Socialism  are 
evident  proofs  of  this  movement.  At  the  same 
time   there  is   corruption,   there  is  vice,  in   all 


Conclusion  209 

classes  of  the  social  order  in  our  own  days  as 
well  as  there  was  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

Francis  had  to  battle  largely  against  the  same 
elements  as  our  modern  reformers  have  to  com- 
bat, and  the  victory  which  he  won,  though  not 
complete,  has  merited  for  him  an  honorable 
place  in  the  history  of  social  reform. 

His  methods  and  the  process  by  which 
his  views  were  formed  were  very  different  from 
those  of  our  modern  reformers.  But  the  very 
contrast  contains  more  than  one  interesting 
lesson. 

By  temperament  Francis  belonged  to  the  class 
that  we  call  imaginative.  In  him  imagination 
was  a  dominant  faculty,  and  his  actions  were  the 
result  of  impulse  and  feeling  rather  than  of  delib- 
eration. His  imagination,  centered  on  the  con- 
templation of  the  truths  and  mysteries  of  spiritual 
life,  produced  in  him  the  idealism  and  optimism 
which  artists  and  poets  have  admired  and  loved 
so  much.  He  was  himself  both  artist  and  poet. 
Some  modern  reformers  attempt  to  base  their 
theories  of  reform  on  rigid  scientific  principles; 
but  St.  Francis  distrusted  science,  since  he 
beHeved  it  led  to  pride  and  to  perdition.  Yet 
we  may  not  for  a  moment  think  that  the  unrea- 
soning  Francis   was   unreasonable,   for  he   had 


210  Conclusion 

remarkable  intuitions,  which  gave  him  rare 
insight  where  reason  might  fail  to  give  ordinary 
understanding. 

It  is  the  custom  nowadays  to  regard  our  evil 
as  primarily  social,  hence  disassociated  from  the 
spiritual  view  of  society.  Attempts  are  made  to 
discover  the  processes  from  which  our  problems 
result;  we  study  environment,  heredity,  institu- 
tions, sanitation,  wages, — as  these  may  all  be 
factors  in  our  social  situation.  Appeal  is  made 
to  the  public,  to  government,  to  law;  parties 
are  formed,  platforms  are  adopted,  and  similar 
manifestations  of  merely  social  activity  are 
witnessed. 

St.  Francis,  on  the  contrary,  judged  things 
from  the  spiritual  or  religious  point  of  view.  He 
believed  in  the  Church,  he  saw  society  through 
the  Church,  hence  he  never  escaped  from  the 
view  which  religion  suggested.  He  saw  God  in 
everything,  he  saw  all  things  in  their  supernat- 
ural relatiens.  He  loved  poverty  because  Our 
Lord  had  loved  it ;  he  hated  sin  because  sin  is  the 
enemy  of  God.  For  him  the  reform  of  the  world 
meant  simply  the  reform  of  the  sinner.  He  saw 
the  souls  of  men,  created  by  God,  and  destined 
to  honor  and  bless  him.  Evil  was  embodied  in 
the  devil,  who  tempted  men  to  all  sorts  of  crimes. 


Conclusion  211 

The  war  between  the  angel  of  light  and  the  angel  -> 
of    darkness    was     continual.     Money,  wealth,   / 
honors,  power,  were  the  instruments  used  by  the    j 
latter  for  the  perversion  of  men;  poA^erty  and   [ 
wrtue  were  the  remedies  which  God  had  estab- 
lished to  reform  and  save  the  world. 

While  our  modern  reformers  plan  and  organize 
on  set  lines,  St.  Francis  showed  no  more 
method  in  his  administration  than  in  his  think- 
ing. From  want  of  prudence,  and  perhaps  from 
overabundant  faith  in  divine  intervention,  his 
activity,  amazing  in  itself,  was  often  misap- 
plied. But,  in  general,  aided  by  the  power- 
ful support  and  guidance  of  his  "  beloved  Mother  " 
the  Church,  he  succeeded  wonderfully  in  com- 
municating to  others  his  love  of  what  is  great  and 
good  and  holy,  and  accomplished  in  a  surprisingly 
short  time  what  many  more  cautious,  but  per- 
haps less  earnest,  reformers  have  failed  to  ob- 
tain. 

Our  social  problem  is  complex:  it  contains 
moral,  religious,  political,  as  well  as  economic  ele- 
ments, and  any  plan  of  reform  which  limits 
itself  to  any  one  of  these  aspects  will,  by  the  very 
fact,  remain  incomplete.  Our  reform,  like  Fran- 
cis's, must  be  comprehensive.  The  present  order 
is  based  largely  on  an  economic  basis.    Francis, 


212  Conclusion 

and    after    him    Catholics,    as    also    Christian 
Socialists,  say  that   the  basis  of  a  social  reform     ^ 
as  well  as  of  the  social  order  should  be  the  relig- 
ious and  ethical  element. 

Another  important  lesson  which  Francis  teaches  * 
us  is  that,  for  a  reform  to  be  successful,  it  is  not  I 
necessary  that  it  should  be  destructive  of  the  I 
present  order,  of  present  principles,  of  present  \ 
institutions.      The   evil   may  lie   largely  in   the    \ 
very   individuals,  and  they  are  the   objects  on 
which  the  reform  must  first  exercise  itself.     A  re- 
form program  like  that  of  the  Socialists,  which    / 
proposes  the  abolition  of  the  private  ownership 
of  capital  and  the  complete  overturning  of  our 
present  social  order,  is  too  radical  to  be  safely  re- 
sorted  to.     The  resources  of   the  actual  order 
have  not  been  exhausted.     The  associations  of 
the  laboring  class  have  not  obtained  their  best 
results  yet;  they  are  according  to  Francis's  spirit: 
he  grouped  together  the  workingmen  of  his  day, 
not  only  in  trade  organizations,  and  in  national 
federations,  but   into    an    international   society 
which    was    patronized    by    the    laboring    class 
throughout  Europe,  and  by  many  well-meaning 
members  of  the  employing  class  and  of  the  aris- 
tocracy of  the  day,  as  well.     The  policy  of  exclu- 
sion was  unknown  to  Francis:  occupation,  for- 


Conclusion  213 

tune,  sex,  age,  class,  were  no  barriers  to  recep- 
tion into  the  Third  Order,  nor  was  any  one 
forced  into  it ;  but  the  inherent  advantages  of  the 
association,  as  well  as  the  popularity  of  its  founder 
and  the  protection  of  the  powerful  Church,  were 
a  sufficient  inducement  to  affiliation. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  lesson  that  our  labor- 
unions  and  employers'  associations  may  learn 
from  the  work  of  Francis.  The  Third  Order, 
being  preeminently  a  religious  association,  offered 
by  its  very  nature  a  common  ground  on  which 
confficting  social,  political,  and  economic  interests 
could  meet.  Opposition  is,  as  it  were,  the  very 
reason  of  existence,  the  essence  of  our  modern 
associations;  capitalists  and  employers  group 
themselves  together  precisely  in  opposition  to 
the  laborers,  and  the  laborers  group  together 
precisely  to  resist  the  encroachments  of,  and  in 
opposition  to,  the  capitalists  and  employers.  Per- 
haps there  is  room  for  a  more  universal  association 
in  which  all  will  meet  on  a  purely  ethical  or 
religious  basis,  and  in  which  the  social  and  eco- 
nomic conflicts  will  find  an  easier  solution. 

A  true  and  solid  reform,  now  as  well  as  in 
Francis's  time,  must  begin  by  the  reform  of  the 
individual.  The  social  problem  is  caused  largely 
by  lack  of  honesty  and  loyalty,  by  cupidity,  pas- 


£14  Conclusion 

sion,  personal  degradation.  The  common  owner- 
ship of  capital  would  not  do  away  with  these 
evils,  and  they  would  still  cause  social  troubles 
if  men  themselves  be  not  reformed;  on  the  other 
hand,  more  virtue,  more  justice,  more  fraternity, 
in  the  present  order,  would  go  far  towards  solv- 
ing our  problem.  The  spirit  of  individualism  would 
not  disappear  in  the  socialistic  regime,  while  the 
awakening  of  the  social  conscience  in  the  present 
order  could  work  wonders.  It  is  true,  the  per- 
fect reign  of  honesty  and  charity  in  the  social 
order  is  an  ideal  which  cannot  be  fully  realized 
in  this  world;  but,  for  us,  as  for  Francis,  it 
should  be  a  picture  continually  before  our  eyes, 
which  would  serve  for  our  guidance  in  our  efforts 
and  activity,  and  even  if  our  results  fall  short  of 
our  ideal,  every  step  forward  is  a  gain  and  an 
approach  to  the  solution  of  the  social  question. 
In  summing  up  we  can  find  no  better  counsel 
than  that  given  by  Leo  Xlll  in  his  encyclical 
"  Rerum  Novarum."  "Let  everyone  therefore  put 
his  hand  to  the  work  which  falls  to  his  share. 
.  .  .  Those  who  rule  the  state  must  use  the  laws 
and  the  institutions  of  the  country;  masters  and 
rich  men  must  remember  their  duty;  the  poor, 
whose  interests  are  at  stake,  must  make  every 
lawful  and  proper  effort;  and  since  religion  alone 


Conclusion  215 

.  .  .  can  destroy  the  evil  at  its  root,  all  men  must 
be  persuaded  that  the  primary  thing  needful  is  a 
return  to  Christianity,  in  the  absence  of  which 
all  the  plans  and  devices  of  the  wisest  will  be 
of  little  avail."     .     .     . 

"...  Above  all  let  charity  be  cherished, — 
charity,  the  mistress  and  queen  of  virtues.  For 
the  happy  results  we  all  long  for  must  be  chiefly 
brought  about  by  the  plenteous  outpouring  of 
charity;  that  true  Christian  charity  which  is  the 
fulfilling  of  the  whole  Gospel  law;  that  charity 
which  is  always  ready  to  sacrifice  itself  for 
others'  sake,  and  which  is  man's  surest  antidote 
against  worldly  pride  and  immoderate  love  of 
self;  that  charity  whose  oflSce  is  described  and 
whose  godlike  features  are  drawn  by  the  Apostle 
St.  Paul  in  these  words:  Charity  is  patient,  is 
kind,  .  .  .  seeketh  not  her  own,  .  .  . 
suffereth  all  things,  .  .  .  endureth  all 
things." 


APPENDIX 


SOURCES   AND  BIBLIOGRAPHY  ON 
ST.  FRANCIS   OF  ASSISI. 

THE  year  1266  marks  an  all-important  date 
in  the  history  of  the  sources  on  St.  Francis. 
Since  the  time  when,  during  the  very  Ufe  of  the 
founder,  a  party  had  arisen  in  favor  of  mitiga- 
tion, continual  dissensiens  had  rent  the  order. 
Conditions  had  almost  reached  a  critical  stage 
when  St.  Bonaventure  was  elected  general  in 
1257.  His  policy  was  one  of  pacification,  and 
his  constant  efforts  were  to  bring  together  the 
Rigorists  and  the  IVIitigants  by  offering  to  the 
two  extreme  parties  a  common  platform  which 
might  serve  as  a  bond  of  reconciHation.  The 
result  of  these  efforts  was  the  document  known 
as  the  "Aries  Constitutions"  and  the  work  which 
interests  us  here, — the  "New  Legend."  It  was 
called  by  this  name  in  opposition  to  the  old 
legends  which  had  been  in  circulation  among  the 
religious  of  the  order  up  to  this  time,  but  which 
were  all  more  or  less  inclined  to  favor  one  or  the 
other  party,  according  as  they  had  been  written 
by  a  partisan  of  the  observance  or  by  one  of  those 


220  Appendix 

who  held  for  mitigation.  Of  course,  in  writing 
this  new  legend  St.  Bonaventure  had  used  all 
or  most  of  these  first  documents;  but  he  had 
carefully  left  out  anything  that  could  be  used  as 
an  argument  by  one  or  the  other  party.  In 
1266,  three  years  after  the  completion  of  this 
work,  the  General  Franciscan  Chapter,  assembled 
in  Paris,  decreed  "in  the  name  of  obedience  that 
all  the  legends  of  the  Blessed  Francis,  written 
formerly,  should  be  destroyed,  and  that  even- out- 
side of  the  order  the  brothers  should  endeavor  to 
do  away  with  those  they  may  find.*'  From  this 
day  the  New  Legend  alone  was  to  be  used  in  the 
Franciscan  order,  and  even  as  far  as  it  could  be 
done,  outside  the  order.  This  was  equivalent 
to  sacrificing  the  original  lives  of  St.  Francis  for 
a  mere  compilation,  but  as  it  was  thought  then 
that  everything  should  be  sacrificed  to  the  work 
of  pacification  in  the  order,  the  decree  went  into 
execution. 

From  1266  to  1769,  a  period  of  over  five  cen- 
turies, the  original  sources  of  St.  Francis's  his- 
tory remained  buried  in  oblivion.  The  great 
work  of  the  BoUandists  gave  rise  to  the  modern 
movement  which  has  brought  to  light  so  many 
old  and  precious  documents,  and  has  reconsti- 
tuted in  its  true  light  the  life  and  character  of 


Sources  and  Bibliography     221 

St.  Francis.  Yet  this  work  remained  incomplete 
until  the  end  of  the  last  century,  when  a  new  and 
remarkable  interest  was  developed  in  the  study 
of  the  saint.  The  signal  for  this  new  Franciscan 
movement  was  given  largely  by  the  celebration, 
in  1882,  of  the  seventh  centenary  of  the  saint's 
birth.  Since  then  biographies  and  studies  of 
all  kinds  have  succeeded  each  other  almost  with- 
out interruption.  At  the  same  time  the  original 
sources  have  been  again  studied,  criticized, 
corrected,  and  published;  new  documents  have 
been  brought  to  light  and  the  old  ones  have  been 
revised  and  re-edited  according  to  the  best  methods 
of  modem  criticism.  In  this  work  Protestants 
and  Rationalists  have  contributed  as  well  as 
Catholics,  with  a  zeal  and  a  love  which  only  the 
sweet  figure  of  St.  Francis  could  call  forth. 
Germany,  through  Father  Ehrle,  S.J.,  and  Fa- 
ther Denifle,  O.P.,  in  the  "Archiv  fUr  Litteratur 
und  Kirchengeschichte  des  Mittelalters,"  and 
in  the  "Zeitschrift  fiir  Katholische  Theologie," — 
France,  through  Paul  Sabatier  in  the  "Col- 
lecMon  d' etudes  et  de  documents  sur  Thistoire 
religieuse  et  litteraire  du  Mo  yen  Age"  and  the 
**  Opuscules  de  critique  historique," — Italy, 
through  the  sons  of  St.  Francis,  in  the  "Analecta 
Franciscana,"  and  in   other  publications  of  the 


222  Appendix 

College  of  St.  Bona  venture,  at  Quaracchi,  near 
Florence,  also  in  the  "Miscellanea  Frances- 
cana,'*  "Analecta  Ordinis  Minorum  Cappuci- 
norum,"  etc., — Belgium,  through  the  editors 
of  the  "Analecta  Bollandiana," — England  it- 
self, through  J.  S.  Brewer  and  Richard  Howlet 
in  the  "Monumenta  Franciscana,"  a  work 
which,  however,  is  prior  to  the  present  move- 
ment, as  it  was  published  in  1858  and  1882, — all 
these  have  shared  in  the  work  of  reconstruct- 
ing the  original  sources  of  the  early  Franciscan 
history.  Lastly,  on  the  2nd  of  June,  1902,  the 
"Societa  internazionale  di  Studi  Francescani 
in  Assisi"  was  founded  for  the  purpose  of  develop- 
ing and  facilitating  Franciscan  studies.  This 
society  owes  its  rise  in  a  great  measure  to  the  efforts 
of  Paul  Sabatier  and  counts  among  its  members 
a  great  number  of  writers  on  St.  Francis,  how- 
ever mostly  non-Catholic. » 

This  movement,  in  all  the  vigor  of  its  youth, 
has  already  produced  important  results  in  the 
line  of  discovery  and  criticism;  but  it  promises 
still  greater  things  for  the  future.     We  may  well 

^  "Origine  e  costituzione  .  .  .'*  Assisi,  1902. 
In  connection  with  this  international  society  must  be 
mentioned  also  the  international  review:  "Bullettino 
critico  di  cose  francescane,"  the  first  number  of 
which  appeared  April,  1905,  Firenze,  Italy. 


Sources  and  Bibliography     223 

hope  that  before  long,  all  the  original  documents 
which  were  so  summarily  dealt  with  by  the  de- 
cree of  the  General  Chapter  of  1266  will  be  rein- 
stated in  their  rights,  and  will  help  the  present  gen- 
eration in  reconstructing  the  grand  and  loving 
figure  of  St.  Francis,  and  in  placing  in  its  true  light 
his  wonderful  work  of  religious  and  social  reform. 

Critical  studies  of  the  sources  have  been  made 
byH.  Thode,iL.  Le  Monnier,^  W.  Goetz,'  A.  G, 
Little,*  P.  Sabatier,"^  H.  Paschal  Robinson, 
O.F.M.,«  and  many  others. 

Again,  extensive  bibliographies  of  the  works 
written  on  St.  Francis  have  been  already  pub- 
lished; among  them  may  be  mentioned  those  of  Fr. 
MarcelUno  da  Civezza,   O.F.M.,'  H.  Boehmer,' 

1  "Franz  von  Assisi  und  die  Anfange  der  Kunst  der 
Renaissance  in  Italien,"  Berlin,  1885.  New  edition, 
Berlin,  1904. 

2  "Histoire  de  St.  Fran9ois,"  Paris,  1890  (3d  edition). 
"  "Die  Quellen  zur  Geschichte  des  hi.  Franz  von 

Assisi.     Eine  kritische  Untersuchung,"  Gotha,  1904. 

*  "The  Sources  of  the  History  of  St.  Francis,"  Eng. 
Hist.  Rev.,  1902,  pp.  643-675. 

"  "Vie  de  St.  Fran9ois  d'Assise."  "Nouveaux 
travaux  sur  les  documents  Franciscains,"  Paris,  1903. 

«  "Franciscan  Literature,*'  "The  Dolphin,"  in  July 
and  August,  1905. 

^  "Saggio  di  BibHografia  geografica  storica  etne- 
grafica  San  Francescana,"  Prato,  1879. 

*  "Analekten  zur  Geschichte  des  Franciscus  von 
Assisi,"  Tubingen,  1904. 


224  Appendix 

and  especially  of  Ulysse  Chevalier. »  Yet 
a  short  critical  review  of  the  sources  and 
bibliography  of  the  principal  works  concerning 
the  saint  may  be  justified  by  the  fact  that  modem 
criticism,  even  during  the  last  few  years,  has 
thrown  considerable  light  on  the  knowledge  of 
these  sources,  and  that  new  and  interesting 
studies  from  different  points  of  view  are  al- 
most constantly  offered  to  the  public. 

^  "Repertoire   des    sources   historiques    du    Moyen 
Age,"  Paris,  1877-1886,  new  edition  being  published. 


I.— ORIGINAL  DOCUMENTS  BEARING 
DIRECTLY  ON  ST.  FRANCIS. 

AMONG  the  original  documents  bearing 
directly  on  St.  Francis  and  on  the  beginning 
of  the  Franciscan  movement,  the  following  are 
the  principal :  the  two  lives  written  by  Tommaso 
di  Celano  and  his  treatise  on  the  miracles  of  St. 
Francis;  the  life  of  the  Three  Companions;  the 
writings  of  Brother  Leo,  among  which  Paul 
Sabatier  placed  the  "Speculum  Perfectionis" ; 
the  Chronicles  of  Thomas  Eccleston  and  Jordanus 
of  Giano;  and  the  works  of  St.  Francis. 

1.    Tommaso  di  Celano. 

Tommaso  di  Celano  was  one  of  the  disciples 
of  the  saint,  and  joined  the  order  about  1215. 
He  wrote  his  first  Hfe  of  St.  Francis  in  1228,  at 
the  request  of  Gregory  IX. 

After  the  General  Chapter  of  1244,  which 
recommended  the  completion  of  the  biography 
of  the  saint,  Tommaso  di  Celano  was  again 
requested  to  write  what  he  knew  or  could  gather 
about  the  founder.     The  result  was  the  "Vita 


226  Appendix 

Secunda,'*  the  first  part  of  which  was  composed 
about  1246,  and  the  second  in  the  beginning  of 
the  generalship  of  Giovanni  di  Parma,  who  was 
elected  in  1247. 

These  two  lives  of  Tommaso  di  Celano  deserve 
the  first  rank  in  a  study  of  the  sources  of  the 
history  of  St.  Francis.  Mr.  Paul  Sabatier 
accuses  their  author  of  weakness  of  character 
and  partiality,  as  he  seems  to  favor  the  party  of 
the  Spirituals  or  that  of  the  Mitigants  according 
as  the  one  or  the  other  happened  to  be  in  power 
at  the  time  of  his  writing.  Few  critics  have  sub- 
scribed to  Sabatier's  view  on  this  subject,  as 
everything  in  the  two  lives  in  question  reveals 
the  greatest  fairness.  Possibly  the  influence  of 
the  party  in  power  may  at  times  be  seen  in  the 
writings  of  Tommaso  di  Celano,  but  it  never 
affects  them  to  such  an  extent  as  to  color  the 
facts  which  he  relates.  He  remains  the  most 
reliable  historian  for  the  study  of  the  Franciscan 
beginnings  and  his  two  lives  are  still  the  main 
source  of  information  on  the  life  of  St.  Francis 
and  his  first  companions. 

The  first  life  was  published  for  the  first  time 
by  the  Bollandists  in  the  second  volume  for  Oc- 
tober of  the  "Acta  Sanctorum."     Both  the  first 


Original  Documents  on  St.  Francis    227 

and  the  second  have  been  pubHshed  several  times, 
— ^by  Rinaldi,'  who  gave  the  first  edition  of  the 
second  life  of  Tommaso  di  Celano,  then  by  Amoni,' 
and  lately  by  H.  G.  Rosedale.^  Another  edition 
promised  by  Father  Edward  of  Alen^on,  O.F.M. 
Cap.,  archivist  of  the  order,  is  anxiously  awaited. 
The  "  Tractatus  de  Miraculis"  of  Tommaso  di 
Celano,  which  is,  as  it  were,  a  supplement  to  his 
two  lives,  was  published  in  the  "Analecta  Bol- 
landiana,"*  and  in  Rosedale's  "St.  Fran,  of  Assisi." 

2.     The  Three  Companions. 

According  to  the  opinion  generally  held  until 
recent  times,  the  same  recommendation  of  the 
Chapter  of  1244,  which  gave  rise  to  the  second 
life  by  Tommaso  di  Celano,  also  occasioned  the 
composition  of  the  life  of  the  "Three  Compan- 
ions," in  which  Brothers  Leo,  Angelo,  and  Rufino, 
all  companions  of  the  saint,  wrote  down  what  they 
themselves  had  seen  and  heard. 

An  important  question  arose  a  few  years  ago: 
Was  the  document  which  we  possess  and  which 

1  "Seraph.  Viri  S.  Franc.  Ass.  vitse  duse,  Auct.  B. 
Thoma  de  Celano."     Roma,  1806. 

2  Roma,  1880. 

'  "St.    Francis    of    Assisi,    according    to    Brother 
Thomas  of  Gelano."     London,.  1904. 
*Vol.  xviii,  pp.  113-173. 


228  Appendix 

was  first  published  by  the  BoUandists,  the  whole 
legend  of  the  Three  Companions,  or  only  a  frag- 
ment of  it?  From  a  study  of  the  document,  the 
fragmentary  character  of  this  life  appeared  evi- 
dent. 

Two  Franciscans,  Marcellino  da  Civezza  and 
Teofilo  Domenichelli,  tried  to  reconstruct  it  in 
its  integrity,^  but  their  results  have  not  been 
admitted  by  critics  in  general. 

The  authenticity  itself  of  the  legend  of  the 
Three  Companions  has  also  been  much  con- 
tested. A  number  of  critics,  Catholics  among 
others,  think  that  the  legend,  even  in  its  short 
form,  was  compiled  in  the  fourteenth  century.* 
Yet  Paul  Sabatier  and  a  few  other  critics  still 
hold    to    the    traditional    view:    "After    having 

^  "La  leggenda  di  San  Francesco  scritta  da  tre  suoi 
compagni  (Legenda  Trium  Sociorum),"  Roma,  1899. 
The  reconstruction  was  rather  a  transposition,  as  the 
chapters  which  the  editors  add  to  the  text  known  so 
far  as  the  Legend  of  the  Three  Companions  are  mostly 
taken  from  the  Speculum  Perfectionis  and  the  second 
life  of  Tommaso  di  Celano. 

2  Cf.  for  instance  L.  Lemmens:  "Les  deux  Speculum 
Perfectionis."  H.  Tilemann:  "Speculum  Perfectionis 
und  Legenda  Trium  Sociorum."  S.  Minocchi:  "La 
Legenda  Trium  Sociorum,"  Florence,  1900.  "La  ques- 
tione  Francescana,"  Turin,  1902.  Edward  of  Alen^on : 
"La  legende  de  St.  Fran9ois,  dite  des'Trois  Com- 
pagnons,"  Paris,  1902.  Van  Ortroy  in  "Acta  BoUan- 
diana,"  V,  xix. 


Original  Documents  on  St.  Francis    229 

studied  Fr.  Van  Ortroy's  work  with  all  the 
attention  of  which  I  am  capable,"  says  Saba- 
tier,»  "the  authenticity  seems  to  me  more  evident 
than  ever."  Which  is  the  correct  view,  the 
future  alone  can  reveal.' 

3.     Brother  Leo. 

We  know  from  different  sources  that  Brother 
Leo,  the  secretary  and  confessor,  the  intimate 
friend  of  St.  Francis,  who  called  him  "Pecorella 
di  Dio,"  on  account  of  his  simplicity,  wrote 
different  works  on  the  life  of  his  beloved  Father 
and  on  the  heroic  times  of  the  order.  He 
belonged  to  the  Spirituals,  and  spent  his  hfe  and 
energy  in  trying  to  preserve  the  ideal  which  St. 
Francis  had  left  to  his  children.  This  was 
probably  the  cause  of  the  disappearance  of  his 
writings  and  also  of  the  obscurity  which,  even 
to  this  day,  surrounds  his  person  and  his  works. 

We  have  seen  his  name  already  mentioned  as 

'  In  "Revue  Historique,"  Jan.,  Feb.,  1901.  Cf.  also 
P.  Saba  tier's  "Nouveaux  travaux  sur  les  documents 
Franciscains,"  Paris,  1904. 

2  Cf.  also  Ch.  Woeste:  "St.  Fran9ois  d'Assise  et  la 
legende  des  Trois  Compagnons'*  in  "Revue  Generale 
de  Bruxelles,"  1903,  pp.  5-21.  "American  Cath. 
Quart.  Review,*'  1900,  pp.  657-674.  "Revue  d'His- 
toire  Ecclesiastique,"  1905,  Ap.  15,  book  reviews  by 
S.  Le  Grelle. 


230  Appendix 

one  of  the  three  companions  who  wrote  the  Kfe 
of  St.  Francis  at  the  request  of  the  Chapter  of 
1244. 

All  agree  also  in  attributing  to  him  a  life  of 
Brother  Egidio,  which  has  come  down  to  us 
through  the  "  Chronicle  of  the  XXIV  Generals," 
a  document  of  the  fourteenth  century  published 
by  the  Franciscans  of  Quaracchi  in  the  "Analecta 
Franciscana;"^  but  it  was  admitted  that  this  life 
of  Egidio  was  not  the  original  document,  but  had 
been  considerably  altered.  Fr.  Leonard  Lem- 
mens  thinks^  he  has  found  the  original  text  of 
this  life,  and  has  published  it  in  his  series  of 
''Documenta  antiqua  Franciscana, "  with  two 
other  minor  works  of  Brother  Leo:  "Liber  de 
intentione  Sti.  Francisci,"  and  "Verba  Sancti 
Francisci." 

A  greater  controversy  exists  concerning  the 
"Speculum  Perfectionis,"  which  P.  Sabatier 
edited  in  1898,  not  only  as  the  principal  work  of 
Brother  Leo,  but  also  as  the  most  ancient  legend 
of  St.  Francis.  3    According  to  him  Brother  Leo 

» T.  Ill,  1897. 

2  *'Scripta  Fratris  Leonis."  Quaracchi,  1901,  p.  12. 

3  "Speculum  Perfectioiiis,seu  S.  Francisci  Assisiensis 
Legenda  Antiquissima,"  Paris,  1898,  translated  into 
English  by  Ctesse.  C.  de  la  Warr:  "The  Mirror  of 
Perfection,"  London,  1902. 


Original  Documents  on  St.  Francis    231 

wrote  this  work  immediately  after  having  broken 
the  marble  vase  which  Elia,  in  order  to  solicit 
the  offerings  of  the  faithful,  had  put  on  the  site 
where  the  basilica  and  the  tomb  of  St.  Francis 
were  to  be  erected;  hence  it  would  have  been 
completed  on  the  11th  of  May,  1227,  i.  e. 
only  seven  months  after  the  death  of  St. 
Francis.  Sabatier's  conclusions  have  not  been 
admitted  by  all  critics:  Mgr.  Faloci  Pulignani,i 
Fr.  Mandonnet,2  Fr.  Edward  d'  Alengon,*  and 
other  scholars,  have  denied  that  the  "  Speculum 
Perfectionis "  was  the  work,  at  least  exclusively, 
of  Brother  Leo,  and  have  assigned  to  it  a 
much  later  date.  Fr.  Leonard  Lemmens,  in 
publishing  what  he  calls  the  "Redactio  Prior" 
of  the  "Speculum  Perfectionis,"  asserts  that 
this  is  the  work  of  Leo  and  his  companions. 
It  was  written,  he  says,  like  the  second  life  of 
Tommaso  di  Celano,  at  the  request  of  the 
General  Chapter  of  1244,  while  the  **  Speculum 
Perfectionis"  published  by  P.  Sabatier  is  a  com- 
pilation, which,  it  is  true,  contains  all  the  chap- 
ters of  the  original  document,  but  has  received 
many  additions  at  a  later  date  and  really  belongs, 

»  **Miscell.  Franc,"    May-June,  1898. 

'  "Revue  Thomiste,"  July,  1898. 

>  "Annales  Franc./'    July-Aug.,  1898. 


£32  .Appendix 

in  the  form  in  which  Sabatier  gives  it,  to  the 
fourteenth  century. 

4.  Chroniclers  of  the  Order. 
Besides  the  biographies  proper,  the  various 
Chronicles  of  the  order  contain  valuable  infor- 
mation on  St.  Francis  and  particularly  on  the 
beginnings  of  the  order.  The  works  of  Thomas 
Eccleston  and  Jordanus  of  Giano  are  more  than 
mere  compilations,  for  these  men  wrote  about 
events  which  they  themselves  had  witnessed. 
The  "Liber  de  adventu  Fratrum  Minorum  in 
Anglia"  of  Thomas  Eccleston,  which,  as  its  title 
points  out,  relates  more  particularly  the  events 
connected  with  the  establishment  of  the  Francis- 
cans in  England,  was  published  for  the  first  time 
in  the  "  Monumenta  Franciscana"  of  J.  S.  Brewer 
in  1858.  Another  fragment  of  the  same  work 
was  published  in  1882  by  R.  Howlet,  in  the  second 
volume  of  the  "Monumenta  Franciscana.*'^  In 
his  Chronicle,  Jordanus  of  Giano,  while  relating 
the  origin  and  development  of  the  order  in  Ger- 
many, gives  also  most  valuable  information  on 
St.  Francis  and  especially  on  the  crisis  of  the 

1  London.  Roll  series.  Translated  into  English  by 
F.  Cuthbert:  "The  Friars  and  how  they  came  to 
England."  London,  1903. 


Original  Documents  on  St*.  Francis    233 

year  1219.  This  was  first  published  by  G.  Vogt 
in  1870,  under  the  heading  "Die  Denkwurdig- 
keiten  des  Minoriten  Jordanus  von  Giano." 
The  first  volume  of  the  "Analecta  Franciscana" 
has  reproduced  the  two  Chronicles  of  Thomas 
of  Eccleston  and  Jordanus  of  Giano.* 

5.  The  Works  of  St.  Francis. 
The  writings  and  sayings  of  St.  Francis,  by  their 
very  nature,  deserve  a  prominent  place  in  the 
list  of  original  documents,  for  they  reveal  to  us 
the  very  thoughts  and  impressions  of  their  author; 
however,  until  a  few  years  ago  there  was  no  reliable 
edition  of  these  works.  They  had  been  collected 
by  Wadding,^  with  little  discrimination,  and  have 
often  been  republished  since  without  improvement 
in  the  selection  or  correctness  of  the  text.  It  is 
only  within  late  years  that  the  Franciscan  Fathers 
of  Quaracchi  have  brought  forth  a  more  rehable 
edition  of  them.'  The  severity  with  which  they 
have  eliminated  spurious  or  doubtful  documents 

1  Quaracchi,  1885.  Jord.,  pp.  1-20;  Eccleston,  pp. 
215-256. 

2  Anvers  1623  in  4o. 

3  "Opuscula  S.  P.  Francisci  Assisiensis,'*  Quaracchi, 
1904.  Cf.  also  "Seraphicse  Legislationis  Textus 
originales,"  Quaracchi,   1897. 


234  Appendix 

from  the  old  edition  deserves  the  highest  credit.* 
H.  Boehmer  has  also  published  a  critical  edition 
of  St.  Francis's  works. 2  Yet  the  definitive  edition 
is  still  a  desideratum. 

Before  closing  the  list  of  the  original  Franciscan 
documents  bearing  directly  on  St.  Francis,  while 
we  must  omit  several  minor  lives  or  abridgements, 
we  must  mention  the  charming  allegory  "Sacrum 
Commercium  Beati  Francisci  cum  Domina  Pau- 
pertate,"  published  by  Edward  of  AlenQon^  and 
translated  into  English  by  Montgomery  Car- 
michael.*  It  is  recognized  by  all  critics  to  be  a 
most  ancient  document  which,  though  it  has 
little  historical  value,  yet,  as  it  were,  introduces 
us  into  the  very  thoughts  of  the  pioneer  lovers 
of  Lady  Poverty. 

1  Cf.  M.  Carmichael:  "The  writings  of  St.  Francis,  *' 
in  "Month,"  Feb.,  1904. 

2  H.  Boehmer:  "Analekten  zur  Geschichte  desFran- 
ciscus  von  Assisi.  S.  Francisci  opuscula  .  .  etc." 
Tubingen,  1904.  Cf.  on  these  works  P.  Sabatier: 
"Examens  de  quelques  travaux  recants  sur  les  opus- 
cules de  St.  Fran9ois,"  Paris,  1904. 

»  Roma,  1900. 

*  "  TheLady  Poverty,  "New  York  and  London,  1902. 


II.— ORIGINAL   DOCUMENTS   BEARING 
INDIRECTLY  ON  ST.  FRANCIS. 

BESIDES  the  above-mentioned  documents, 
which  are  all  the  works  of  Franciscans,  and 
treat  ex  professo  of  the  history  of  St.  Francis  or  of 
the  order,  there  is  another  class  of  original  sources 
which,  though  coming  from  outsiders,  and  men- 
tioning only  incidentally  the  events  which  interest 
us  here,  serve  as  a  most  valuable  confirmation  of 
the  authority  of  the  direct  sources. 

Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  Papal 
documents  connected  with  the  order  in  its  first 
years.  These  can  be  found  principally  in  the 
"Bullarium  Franciscanum,"  ^  in  the  *'Regesti  del 
Pontifice  Onorio  III,"^  and  in  the  "Regesti  del 
Cardinale  Ugolino  di  Ostia     .     .     ."' 

Among  the  Chroniclers  outside  the  order,  who 
speak  of  Franciscan  events,  Jacques  de  Vitry 
deserves  particular  mention.     He  refers  to  the 

1  Roma,  4  vols,  in  fo.,  1759-1768. 
'  Roma,  1804. 
3  Roma,  1890. 


236  Appendix 

Friars  in  two  letters,  one  from  1216,  republished 
by  Sabatier  as  an  appendix  to  his  "Speculum 
Perfectionis";  the  other  from  1220,  published 
both  in  the  "  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos,"  and  in 
Vitry's  "Historia  occiden talis, "»  written  during 
the  life-time  of  Francis.  These  three  extracts 
may  also  be  found  in  H.  Boehmer's  "Analekten 
zur  Geschichte  des  Franciscus  von  Assisi." 

1  Chap.  XXXII:  "De  ordine  et  prsedicatione 
Fratrum  Minorum.'*  Cf.  also  "Jacobi  Vitriacensis 
episeopi  et  cardinalis,  1180-1240,  sermones  ad  fratres 
Minores,"  Rome,  1903. 


III.— COMPILATIONS.— RECENT  WORKS. 

WITH  St.  Bonaventure  begins  the  period  of 
compilations,  while  the  original  sources 
disappear  more  and  more. 

The  occasion  of  the  composition  of  St.  Bona- 
venture's  legend  and  its  nature  have  already  been 
pointed  out.  Though  it  has  not  the  value  of 
the  first  legends,  it  is,  however,  a  most  useful 
document.  No  one  can  doubt  the  veracity  of 
the  author,  for,  though  he  does  not  say  everyr 
thing,  yet,  all  that  he  says  is  true  and  reliable. 
We  find  in  this  life  many  facts  which  are  new  to 
us  either  because  they  were  compiled  from  legends 
which  have  since  disappeared,  or  perhaps  because 
St.  Bonaventure  received  some  direct  information 
from  the  immediate  disciples  of  St.  Francis.  As 
it  was  the  oflacial  legend  of  the  order,  it  was 
published  before  all  the  others  and  has  often 
been  republished  since:  it  may  be  found  also  in 
the  "Acta  Sanctorum." ^ 

The  "Liber  de  Laudibus  Sti.  Francisci"  of 
Bernardo  da  Bessa,  the  companion  or  secretary 

1  T.  II.    Octob. 


238  Appendix 

of  St.  Bonaventure,  dates  also  from  the  same 
epoch  and  brings  a  few  new  data.  It  was  pub- 
lished for  the  first  time  in  1897. » 

The  last  document  of  the  thirteenth  century 
is  the  Chronicle  of  Brother  Salimbene  da  Parma, 
written  between  1282  and  1287.  It  contains 
very  valuable  information  on  the  eariy  troubles 
in  the  order. 

Though  the  later  works  may  occasionally  con- 
tain facts  extracted  from  eariy  legends  now 
unknown  to  us,  it  will  be  enough  merely  to  men- 
tion them  here,  as  their  value  decreases  with  the 
distance  which  separates  them  from  the  time  of 
St.  Francis. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  we  have  the  "Arbor 
vitae  crucifixi,"  by  Ubertino  da  Casale,  a  fervent 
"Zelator'*;  the  "Chronica  Tribulationum,"  in 
which  Angelo  di  Clareno,  also  of  the  same  party, 
narrates  the  tribulations  of  the  faithful  disciples 
of  St.  Francis;  the  "Liber  Conformitatum,"  by 
Bartolomeo  da  Pisa,  in  which  the  author  shows 
the  resemblance  between  Francis  and  Our  Lord. 
To  this  same  century  also  belong  the  well-known 
"Fioretti,"  the  original  of  which  Sabatier 
attributes  to  Brother  Ugolino;'  the  "Speculum 

^  ''Liber  de  Laud.  Sti.  Franc.  Curante  Hilarino  a 
Lucema,"  Rome,  1897.    Also  in  "Anal.  Franc,"  1897. 

2  P.  Sabatier:  "Actus  B«ati  Francisci  et  Sociorum 
ejus."     "Floretum  Sti.  Francisci,"  Paris,  1902. 


Compilations  239 

Vitse  Sti.  Francisci  et  Sociorum  ejus;"*  the 
"Chronica  Generalium  ministrorum  O.F.M."; 
and  the  **  Tractatus  de  Indulgentia  S.  Marise  de 
Portiuncula'*  of  Brother  Francesco  Bartholdi  of 
Assisi,  edited  by  Paul  Sabatier.^ 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  Glassberger,'  Mark 
of  Lisbon,  and  Mariano  of  Florence  wrote 
Chronicles  of  the  order,  and  in  the  seventeenth 
century  Luke  Wadding  pubHshed  his  famous 
"Annales  Minorum"  in  eight  folio  vcJumes.* 

But  as  we  go  down  from  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury to  the  eighteenth,  the  writers  on  St.  Francis 
and  his  order  abandon  more  and  more  the  original 
documents  and  use  almost  exclusively  later  com- 
pilations. Wadding  himself,  in  spite  of  his  erudi- 
tion, has  not  avoided  this  defect. 

It  is  only  with  the  Bollandists  in  the  eighteenth 
century  that  we  see  a  return  to  the  proper  study 
of  the  sources.  They  pubUshed  the  first  life  by 
Tommaso  di  Celano,  the  work  of  the  Three 
Companions,  and  the  New  Legend  of  St.  Bona- 
venture,  with  a  good  commentary  by  Fr.  Con- 
stant Suyskens;  but,  unfortunately,  the  second  life 
of  Tommaso  di  Celano  escaped  them. 

»  Venice,  1504. 

» Paris,  1900. 

*  "Analecta  Franciscana."     Vol.  II. 

» Lyons,  1625.    2d  ed.  in  16  vols.,  Roma,  1731. 


240  Appendix 

Since  then,  the  study  of  St.  Francis  and  the 
first  Franciscans  has  developed  wonderfully. 
Nicolo  Papini»  was  among  the  first  to  adopt,  in 
the  use  of  the  Franciscan  sources,  the  critical 
method  inaugurated  by  th'5  BoUandists. 

Among  those  who,  after  him,  wrote  lives  and 
histories  of  St.  Francis  from  the  Catholic  point 
of  view,  may  be  mentioned  Chavin  de  Malan,' 
A.  de  Segur,»  Luigi  Palomes,*  Panfilo  da  Mag- 
liano,"  Leopold  de  Cherance,«  Anast.  Bocci,^ 
Daurignac,«  Leon  Le  Monnier,"  L.  de  Ker- 
val,^*'     Berthaumier,"      F.    X.    Keller,"     Bern- 

^  **La  Storia  di  San  Francesco  d'Assisi,  Opera 
Critica,"  Foligno,  1825-1827.  "Notizie  secure  della 
morte,  sepoltura,  cannonizzazione  e  translazione  di 
San  Francesco,"  Foligno,  1824. 

2  "Histoire  de  Saint  Fran9ois,"  Paris,  1841. 

3  "Histoire  populaire  de  Saint  Fran9ois,"  Paris, 
1867. 

*  "Storia  di  San  Francesco,"  Palermo,  1873. 

» "Storia  compendiosa  di  San  Francesco  e  dei 
Francescani,"  2  vols.,  Roma,  1874-1876. 

«  "Saint  Fran9ois  d'Assise,"  Paris,  1879. 

^  "II  vero  amico  del  popolo,  San  Francesco,"  Pis- 
toia,  1882. 

8  "Histoire  de  Saint  Fran9ois,"  Abbeville,  1887. 

•  "Histoire  de  Saint  Fran9ois  d'Assise,"  2  vols., 
Paris,  1889. 

»o  "St.  Fran9ois  el  Tordre  seraphique,"  Vanves,  1898. 

»  "Vie  de  St.  Fran9ois,"  Tours,  1889. 

"  "Der  heilige  Franziscus  von  Assisi,"  R.  b.,  1893. 


Recent    Works  241 

hard  Christen, ^  De  la  Rive,'  CuSack,^  Paul 
Henry,*  F.  Tarducci.s  Among  Protestants 
and  Rationalists  we  have  as  biographers 
of  the  saint:  G.  Vogt,«  Karl  Hase,'  R. 
Bonghi,8  Sir  James  Stephen,'  Mrs.  Oliphant,!" 
Canon  Knox  Little,  ^^  Stajff  Captain  Douglas  of 
the  Salvation  Army,^^  Arvede  Barine,!^  John 
Herkless,  "  Jas.  Adderley,  »  J.  H.  Mcll- 
vaine,"  T.  E.  Harvey.  ^^ 

»  "Leben    des    heiligen    Franciscus    von    Assisi,'* 
l^sbruck,  1899. 

'  "Saint  Fran9ois  d'Assise,"  Geneve,  1901. 

« *'St.  Francis  and  Franciscans,'*  Baltimore,  1902. 

•  "St.   Fran9ois  d'Assise  et  son   ecole  d'apres  les 
documents  originaux,"  Paris,  1903. 

•  "Vita  di  San  Francesco  d'A^sisi,"  Mantua,  1904. 

•  "Der  heilige  Franziscus,"  T&hingen,  1840. 

'  "Franz  von  Assisi,  ein  Lebensbild,"  Leipsig,  1856. 

•  "Francesco  d'Assisi,"  Citta  di  Castello,  1884. 

"  "Saint  Francis  of  Assisi, "in  "Essays  in  ecclesiastical 
*"  "Francis  of  Assisi,"  London,  1889.  [biographies." 
**  "St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  his  times,  life  and  work." 

Lectures  in  Worcester  Cathedral.  New  York,  1897. 
12  "Brother  Francis,  or  less  than  the  least,"  in  the 

Red  Hot  Library.  [Compagnons,"  Paris,  1901. 

"  "St.  Francois  d'Assise  et  la  legende  des  Trois 
"  "Francis,  Dominic   and  the  Mendicant  Orders," 

in  the  "  Worid  Epoch  Makers"  series.    New  Tork,  1901 . 
1*  "Francis,  the  Little  Poor  Man  of  Assisi,"  London, 

1901.  [New  York,  1902. 

"  "Saint  Francis  of  Assisi,"  six  lectures  in  Lent. 
"  "St.  Francis,  etc."     London,  1904. 


242  Appendix 

Others  have  studied  Francis  from  some  par- 
ticular point  of  view,  or  have  described  some 
special  phase  of  his  life  and  work. 

Granger  de  D.,^    Bernardin  de  Paris,'    Aus- 
serer,3   Fr.    Stanislaus,    O.S.F.C.,  etc.,* 
have  considered  mainly  the  saint  in  Francis. 

Then  we  may  mention  various  essays,  as  those 
of  J.  E.  Renan,*  Delecluze,'  Frattini,^  Odeschal- 
chi,8  Dubosc,«  R.  Mariano,"  Westlake,"  P. 
Doreau,^2  Yr.  Paschal  Robinson,"  G.  Schniirer,^* 

»  "Saint  Fran9ois  d'Assise,  Providence  du  Moyen 
Age  par  amour,"  Paris,  1875. 

2  "L'esprit  de  Saint  Fran9ois  d'Assise,"  2  vols., 
Paris,  1880. 

3  *'Der  heilige  Franciscus,  Christi  Nachbild  und 
des  Christen  Vorbild,"  Innsbruck,  1882. 

*  *'The  inner  life  of  St.  Francis,"  London,  1900. 

*  *' Saint  Fran9ois  d'Assise,"  in  "Nouvelles  etudes 
religieuses."  [d'Aquin,"  2  vols.,  Paris,  1844. 

«  "Gregoire  VII,  St.  Francois  d'Assise,  St.  Thomas 

'  "San  Francesco  e  k-  citta  di  Spello,"  Assisi,  1881. 

8  "Tre  grandi  Uomini:  Christoforo  Colombo,  San 
Francesco  d'Assisi  e  il  Cid,"  Studii.,  Roma,  1885. 

»  "Saint  Francois  d'Assise,"  These,  Montauban,1882. 

"  "Francesco  d'Assisi  e  alcuni  dei  suoi  piii  recenti 
biografi,"  Napoli,  1896. 

"  "On  the  authentic  Portraiture  of  St.  Francis  of 
Assisi,"  London,  1897. 

"  "St.  Francois  d'Assise  et  son  ceuvre."  Paris^  1902. 

"  "The  real  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,"  1903.  "The 
teaching  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi."  1905. 

"  *'Die  Vertiefung  des  religiosen  Lebens.  .  .  c  etc., 
Franz  von  Assisi,"  Munich,  1905. 


Recent    Works  243 

the  "Omaggio  storico,  filosofico,  teologico  al 
Patriarcha    San  Francesco,"^  etc.     .     .     . 

The  history  of  the  first  Franciscans  has  been 
treated  by  Luigi  Palomes,^  Panfilo  da  Mag- 
liano,»  Marcellino  da  Civezza,*  in  Italy;  by  H. 
de  Grezes/  Ubald  de  Chanday,«  L.  de  Kerval,' 
de  Barenton,8  in  France;  by  Evers,^  A.  Hertzog,io 
in  Germany;  and  by  A.  Jessop,^^  Anne  McDonell," 
in  England. 

On   the   Third   Order  we  have  the  works  of 

1  2  vols.,  Prato,  1882. 

2  "Dei  Frati  Minori  e  delle  loro  denominazioni," 
Palermo,  1897. 

3  "Storia  compendiosa  di  San  Francesco  e  dei 
Francescani,"  2  vols.,  Roma,  1874-1876. 

*  "Storia  universale  delle  missione  Francescane,** 
Roma,  1857;  Prato,  1881. 

*  "L'Ordre  de  Saint  Fran9ois,"  Paris,  1884. 

*  "Les  fils  de  Saint  Francois,"  Paris,  1884.  These 
two  works,  with  "Saint  Fran9ois  dans  Tart,"  and  the 
life  of  St.  Francis  by  Leopold  of  Cherance,  have  been 
published  in  an  Mition  de  luxe  under  the  care  of  Du 
Chatel,  de  Porrentruy  et  Brin,  1  vol.,  4to,  Paris,  1885. 

^  "Saint  Fran9ois  d'Assise  et  Tordre  Seraphique," 

Vanves,  1898. 

« "  Les  Franciscains  en  France,"  in   the  "Science  et 

Religion'*  series.     Paris,  1903.  [Leipsig,  1882. 

» "Analecta    ad    Fratrum     Minorum     historiam,'* 
*°  "  Franciscus  von  Assisi,  der  Griinder  des  Francis- 

canerordens,"  Zabern,  1894. 
"  "The  Coming  of  the  Friars." 
"  "The  Sons  of  Francis,"  London,  1902. 


244  Appendix 

Breisdorff,!  Gerard  de  Vaucouleur,^  and  particu- 
larly those  of  Karl  Muller,^  and  P.  Mandonnet, 
O.  P. /which  are  masterpieces  of  historical  research. 

Miss  Duff  Gordon  has  published  in  the  series 
of  "Medieval  Towns" ^  a  little  work  which  con- 
tains interesting  data  on  Francis  and  his  native 
place.  Beryl  D.  de  Selincourt  also,  in  his 
"  Homes  of  the  First  Franciscans,"*  has  written 
in  the  same  line. 

From  a  psychological  and  medical  point  of 
view,  St.  Francis  has  been  studied  by  Steyrer;' 
and  more  recently  by  two  physicians,  M.  A. 
Bournet,8  a  Protestant,  and  Th.  Cotelle,''  a 
Catholic. 

*  "Der  dritten  Orden  des  heiligen  Franciscus  und 
seine  Regel,"  Luxembourg,  1876. 

2  "Documents  pour  expliquer  la  regie  du  Tiers 
Ordre,"  Paris,  1899. 

3  "  Die  Anf ange  des  Minoritenordens,"  Freiburg,  1885. 

*  "Les  origines  de  I'ordre  de  Poenitentia,"  Fri- 
bourg,  1898.  "Les  regies  et  le  gouvernement  de 
rOrdo  de  Poenitentia  au  XIII®  Siecle,"  Paris,  1902. 

»  "Assisi/*  London,  1900. 

•London,  1905. 

7  "Disquisitio  historica,  an  Sanctus  Franciscus 
Assisiensis  fuerit  homo  insanus  et  fanaticus,"  Fri- 
huT^i  Brisgovige,  1779. 

» "Etude  sociale  et  medicale  sur  St.  Fran9ois 
d'Assise,"  Paris,  1893. 

^  "St.  Fran9ois  d Assise,  etude  medicale,"  Paris, 
1895. 


Recent    Works  245 

Then,  coming  nearer  to  our  subject,  Goerres,^ 
F.  Ozanam,2  Heinrich,^  M.  .  .  ,  the  anony- 
mous writer  already  referred  to,*  Henry  Thode,' 
Alphonse  Germain,'  have  shown  the  influence  of 
St.  Francis  on  Uterature  and  art. 

The  reform  work  proper  of  St.  Francis  has 
also  been  the  object  of  a  few  books.  The  work 
of  Francesco  Prudenzano'  on  this  subject  has  gone 
through  many  editions.  The  author,  however, 
treats  rather  of  the  influence  of  Francis  on  civili- 
zation, and  seems  to  exaggerate  this  influence: 
he  calls  the  period  which  preceded  Francis  the 
"Periodo  barbaro  e  di  tradizioni  pagane,"  while 
the  following  period  is  qualified  by  the  name  of 
"Periodo  di  Civilta." 

Shortly  after  the  pubHcation  of  Prudenzano's 

»  "Der  heilige  Franciscus  von  Assisi,  ein  Trouba- 
dour,*' Strassburg,  1826. 

2  *'Les  poetes  Franciscains  en  Italic  au  XIII®  siecle," 
Paris,  1847. 

3  *'Franciscus  von  Assisi  und  seine  kulturhistorische 
Bedeutung,"  Frankfurt,  1883. 

*  "Saint  Fran9ois  dans  I'art,"  Paris,  1884. 

*  "Franciscus  von  Assisi  und  die  Anfange  der  Kunst 
der  Renaissance  in  Italien,"  Berlin,  1885. 

*  "L'influence  de  St.  Fran9ois  sur  la  civilization  et 
les  arts,"  in  the  "Science  et  Religion"  series,  Paris, 
1903. 

'  "Franc.   d*Ass.   e  il   suo  secolo,"  Naples,  1852. 


246  Appendix 

work,  Fred.  Morin  wrote  a  little  book  on  St. 
Francis,  1  in  which  he  shows  well  the  influence  of 
the  Third  Order  on  the  social  and  political  in- 
stitutions of  the  time.  This  work  has  long  been 
out  of  print;  a  summary  of  it  by  the  author 
himself  may  be  found  in  Migne's  "  Dictionnaire 
de  philosophic  Scolastique." 

Giussepe  Orlando,  S.J.,  published  in  the 
"Sicilia  Cattolica"  a  series  of  articles  which  were 
translated  into  French  and  published  in  book 
form  under  the  heading  of  "Saint  FranQois  d* As- 
sise et  son  influence  religieuse,  sociale,  htteraire  et 
artistique."^  The  work  has  little  scientific  value. 

A  little  brochure,  whose  title  seems  to  herald 
great  things, "Der  Apostel  der  Armuth,St.  Fran- 
ciscus  von  Assisi,  ein  Befreier  und  Reformator 
im  Geiste  der  katholischen  Kirche,""  can  not 
fail  to  disappoint  the  reader,  as  it  is  little  more 
than  a  refutation  of  H.  Thode's  Protestant  ideas 
on  St.  Francis. 

Again  the  little  volume  of  Sac.  Dott.  A.  Can- 
tono*  deserves  passing  mention  here;  but,  as  the 

^  *'St.  Fran9ois  et  les  Franciscains,"  Paris,  1853. 

2  Paris,  1885.  The  original  may  be  found  in  the 
numbers   of   Sept.    and   Oct.,    1882,   of   "La   Sicilia 

3  By  C.  P.,  Weihnachten,  1893.  [CattoHca." 
*  "San   Francesco   d 'Assisi   e   la   democrazia   Cris- 

tiana,"  from  the  *'Fede  e  Scienza*'  series,  Roma,  1903. 


Recent    Works  247 

author  himself  says,  it  has  no  pretension  to  erudi- 
tion and  is  destined  only  for  popular  reading. 

The  work  of  F.  Glaser^  has  far  more  critical 
value;  it  is  written  from  the  Protestant  point  of 
view  and  treats  mainly  of  the  idea  of  poverty 
in  its  relations  to  the  reform  movement  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  particularly  to  that  inaugu- 
rated by  St.  Francis. 

Finally,  we  may  not  omit  the  encycKcal  of  Leo 
XIII,  "Auspicato  concessum  est,"^  besides  his 
letters  and  discourses  on  the  reform  wrought  by 
Francis,  particularly  through  the  Third  Order. ^ 

This  Ust  is  not  exhaustive.  We  have  omitted 
all  the  works  which  do  not  treat  directly  of  St. 
Francis,  but  which  contain,  however,  a  great 
deal  that  might  and  should  have  a  place  in  a  com- 
plete bibUography  of  the  subject.*    We  have  left 

» **Die  Franziskanische  Bewegung,"  Stuttgard,  1903. 

» Sept.  17,  1882. 

'  Passim  in  "Acta."  All  documents  relating  to  the 
Third  Order  have  been  collected  in  a  popular 
edition,  "Le  Pape  et  le  Tiers  Ordre,"  by  Fr.  Pascal. 
Cf.  also  Fernandez  Garcia  Marianus,  O.F.M. :  "S.S. 
D.  N.  Leonis  P.P.  XIII,  Acta  ad  Tertium  Francis- 
canum  ordinem  spectantia."    Quaracchi,  1901. 

*  Cf .  for  instance:  Emile  Gebhart,  "Italic  mys- 
tique," Paris,  1893.  Hamack:  "Lehrbuch  der  Dog- 
mengeschichte,"  Freiburg,  I.  B.,  1890;  "Das  Monch- 
tum  .  .  .  etc."  Ludovic  de  Basse:  "Le  Bienheureux 
Bemardin  de  Feltre  et  son  oeuvre,"  Tours,  1902. 


248  Appendix 

out  also  an  immense  amount  of  literature  on 
Francis  which  is  to  be  found  in  magazines  and 
reviews  of  all  kinds  and  of  all  countries.  ^  It  is' 
hardly  necessary  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
this  literature,  both  in  magazines  and  in  book 
form,  is  growing  every  day.  Evidently  the  cause 
of  this  popularity  is  to  be  traced  ultimately  to 
the  sweet  figure  of  the  Poverello  himself;  but  we 
must  mention  two  men  who  have  greatly  con- 
tributed to  this  Franciscan  movement,  two  men 
who,  though  far  apart  in  religious  opinion,  met 
on  common  ground  in  the  love  of  St.  Francis, — 
Leo  XIII  and  Paul  Sabatier.  To  Leo  XIII, 
who  believed  that  society  to-day  can  be  reformed, 
as  it  was  in  the  thirteenth  century,  through  the 
Third  Order, — to  his  influence, — to  his  encyclical 
*'Auspicato  concessum  est,"  recommending  the 
Third  Order  to  all  the  faithful, — to  his  constitu- 
tion "Misericors  Dei  Filius,"  adapting  the  rule 
of  the  Third  Order    to  present  conditions  and 

'  Cf.  Reviews  of  Articles  on  St.  Francis  in  "Acta 
BoUandiana."  Poole's  directory  for  English  reviews. 
Articles  in  "Le  Vingtieme  siecle"  on  the  social  action 
of  St.  Francis.  Georg  Ratzinger:  "Die  soziale  Bed- 
eutung  des  heiligen  Franziskus"  in  "Forshung.  zur 
bayr.  Gesch./'  1897.  Paul  Sabatier:  "St.  Francis  and 
the  20th  century"  in  "Contemporary  Rev.,"  Dec., 
1902. 


Recent    Works  249 

needs, — to  the  active  part  which  he  took  in  the 
Franciscan  reform,  we  owe  not  only  the  abun- 
dant Uterature  of  late  years  on  the  social  role 
of  St.  Francis  and  the  Third  Order,  but  also  the 
practical  movement  towards  religious  and  social 
reform  again  revived  by  the  Third  Order  in 
modern  times.  To  Sabatier  we  owe  the  uni- 
versal enthusiasm  which  has  spread  not  only 
through  the  Catholic  world,  but  among  Protest- 
ants and  Rationalists  as  well.  It  is  true, 
Goerres,  Karl  Hase,  Vogt,  Thode,  Bonghi, 
Renan,  had  already  recounted  in  the  Protestant 
and  Rationalist  world  the  glories  of  the  Poverello; 
but  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  life  of  St.  Francis 
published  by  Sabatier  in  1893  awakened  a  new 
enthusiasm,  which  has  continued  to  increase 
ever  since.  His  life  of  St.  Francis  was  imme- 
diately translated  into  all  languages,  and  in 
France  alone  it  has  already  gone  through  twenty- 
nine  editions.  The  works  of  Alderley,  Knox 
Little,  Herkless,  Mcllvaine,  McDonell,  to  quote 
only  English  authors,  can  all  be  traced  to  the  in- 
fluence oi  Paul  Sabatier,  and  it  would  perhaps 
not  be  outside  the  truth  to  say  that  even  most 
Cathoiic  works  which  have  since  appeared  on  the 
history  of  St.  Francis,  have  been  called  forth  by 
Sabatier's  work.     They  arose  either  as  a  pro- 


250  Appendix 

test  against  the  new  presentation  of  the  saint, 
or  in  holy  emulation;  they  represent  an  earnest 
endeavor  to  offer  to  the  world  a  tribute  from  a 
Catholic  point  of  view  as  worthy  of  St.  Fran- 
cis as  that  offered  to  him  by  one  of  his  Protestant 
admirers. 


PRINTED    BY    BENZIGER    BKOTHER*;.    NEW  YORK. 


BIOGRx\PHY. 

The  author  of  this  dissertation  was  born 
at  Bourg-en-Bresse  (France),  October  14,  1873. 
Having  pursued  his  primary  studies  at  the 
"Institution  St.  Pierre"  at  Bourg,  and  later  at 
the  "College  Ecclesiastique"  of  Belley  (Ain),  he 
entered  the  Novitiate  of  the  Society  of  Mary  at 
Dodon,  Md.,  and  was  ordained  a  priest  at 
Marist  College,  Brookland,  D.  C,  June  20, 1897. 

He  then  engaged  in  parochial  work  in  San 
Francisco,  and  later  taught  at  All  Hallows  College, 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 

In  1900  he  was  appointed  professor  of  Dog- 
matic Theology  at  Marist  College,  and  soon 
after  took  up  studies  at  the  Catholic  Uni- 
versity of  America,  in  the  department  of 
Philosophy,  mamly  in  Sociology  and  Political 
Economy. 

The  author  takes  this  opportunity  to  tliank 
his  professors  for  the  help  he  received  from  them 
in  his  work  at  the  University  and  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  his  dissertation  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Philosophy.  Professors  Wm.  J.  Kerby,  Thos.  J. 
Shahan,  Maurice  F.  Egan,  Edward  A.  Pace  and 
Hon.  Chas.  P.  Neill,  now  Commissioner  of  Labor, 
have  been  of  special  assistance  to  him,  and  to 
them  in  particular  he  wishes  to  convey  the  assur- 
ance of  his  sincere  gratitude. 

V     OF  TH£ 


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